The Feeling
by SarahsOblivion
Summary: Katniss has always live the life of luxury, in the District 12 Victor's Village. 10 years before she was born her father won the 49th Hunger Games and since then her older sister and brother have won too. Now next in line to win in The Family, all the Capitols eyes are on her. She's beat the odds by getting past the 73rd Reaping. Then a blue eyed boy comes back into her life.
1. 1!

**I know you will all probably hate me but in the interest of combining all the stories I've planned I've added a back story for our beloved main character. Peeta still saved her when she was 12 but in a different way.****I hope you like it! ill try to update as soon as possible!!****Rape/Sexual assault. May be triggering. Be careful.**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

**~S~**

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1.

I was 12, only 12 when the most traumatic thing happened to me. I'd had an argument with My Mother, and so I decided to go for a walk to clear my head, she did always call me hot-headed and because I was so young she wanted My Brother to go with me. Of course he hated the idea being only 15. He still came obviously as we were both scared of Mum. He got annoyed with my ranting though and left to go and see his friends. It was only 5 in the afternoon after all what could possibly happen to me? That's what I kept telling myself anyway.

I'd just got onto the Alleyway behind the shops in town when someone grabbed me. All I remember was that it was a very big guy. Nowhere near my own age. Probably closer to my Dad's age than my own. I thought I was gonna die. People have always hated my family because of how much we have after My Father won the Hunger Games when he was 16. The man grabbed hold of my arms so hard that when I tried to move my legs I fell and hit my head on the floor, knocking me out slightly.

When I eventually came too, I was in a daze. The man had my arms still pinned together but now in front of me. I tried to move but a 12 year old with what I'm guessing was a concussion was no match against a grown man. I remember him telling me to shut up even though he used quite a few swear words after it. I knew then that there wasn't any point in me trying to move so I started screaming. He didn't make any move to cover my mouth as his free hand was moving towards my pants and yanking them down. That's when I really started to scream. I screamed until tears where filling my mouth. His own pants were unzipped and he didn't even hesitate before he forced himself inside of me. It was excruciating, a pain like I'd never felt before.

I shouted and wriggled until I couldn't anymore but it was no use. He was pushing my hands so hard it hurt my stomach and I could feel the blood coming out of my head from where I hit the floor right at the top of my neck and the bottom of my skull. I was lost, I didn't know what to do. I forced my brain to think of other things, happy things. My Dad cooking breakfast in the morning whilst My Mother sang a little tune. I even thought about what Kol would be doing with his friends right about now. Anything to stop what was happening right now.

"Dad!" I heard someone shout in what seemed like a far off distance. "Come quick! Oi! Get off her!!" It was a boy. A boy I knew very well. My Best Friend Peeta Mellark. I shouted with all I had left in me.

The man on top of me had just finished, filling me with warm liquid when someone grabbed his collar and pulled him up off me at an incredible force. I heard a short intake of breath as whoever it was realised it was me and Peeta was at my side in seconds with his older brother Rye. "Katniss?! Rye run to the Victor's Village and get her parents!" I heard Masan Mellark shout and Peeta took my hand. I opened my eyes a little more to see Masan punch my attacker in the jaw just before he scampered off with his pants still unzipped. Then he was gone.

I felt someone cover me with a blanket and then arms pick my small feeble body off the floor and off into the familiar smell of the Bakery. That's when I passed out.

The weeks after happened in a blur. Not long after I was at The Bakery, Dad told me he had come and picked me up but I don't remember. I wasn't in a good place after that. After the treatment on my head which took more than 2 weeks, I didn't leave my room. It took Mum and Dad a long time to get me to eat. The Mellarks would come and visit me but I just pushed them out of my mind and shut off from everyone. I never actually found out who the man was that attacked me. My father left one night in a flash of anger with some of his friends and I didn't think anything of it until someone found a man's body on an alley in The Seam, it sounded like the same man who had raped me. I asked him about it but he just kept saying he doesn't know anything but I find that hard to believe.

3 months after the incident, I finally went back to school but as soon as I saw Peeta and Rye I found myself throwing up in the toilets. Seeing the faces brought back so many memories. I told my mum when I got home that I don't think I'd be able to go back to school for a long time, that's when she told me she thought I'd be pregnant. After a few tests we found out I was. I didn't know what to think. I wasn't even 13 yet, how could I be pregnant and with a rapists baby at that. I wanted to get rid of it, it wasn't mine it was his, I didn't want it but my parents pursuaded me otherwise and before long it became to late to get rid of it. Besides Rape happens quite a lot in district 12 I just hope one day I can change that.

6 months after that, I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl anyone has ever seen. You wouldn't have thought about how she was conceived. I couldn't help but love her with her bright grey eyes and black hair. She looked exactly like me and no one else. To this day, though I can't bring myself to tell people it's my baby so we just say it's Mum's. No-one saw me for them 6 months anyway so you wouldn't know. I know there will come a day when she will call me Mummy and people will find out the truth. I guess I'll have to face it then.

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**2 YEARS LATER**

Its september 1st, over 2 weeks since The 73rd Hunger Games, everything was just getting back to normal in District 12, people were still grieving but I guess that's never gonna stop in this world. None of us had heard about any sort of difference in the District. That is until today. The Everdeens, My Family, 4 Siblings, a grandchild and My Mother and Father, we were all sitting down for our breakfast before school and work when we heard the sirens begin, coming from the town square on the other side of the Victors Village houses across from us. The smell of smoke seeps its way through the open window in the Dining room. My Father, Ash Everdeen jumps up to his feet quicker than i've ever seen him do so. "What the hell is that?" He asks, still finishing off his bit of Bacon.

Fear spreads across the faces of everyone sitting at the table. 5 Siren calls, Fire. Everyone's chairs fall back as we all stand to see where it is coming from. My Mother is the first person to run to the front door. I follow closely behind her, holding my daughter, Willow and with Primrose at my side. The smoke is rising from the Town Square in the same place as i know the Bakery to be. My blood runs cold and I can hear the people behind me take a sharp breathe. The Mellarks. My Family and The Mellarks have been best friends even before My elder Sister and Brother where born. Poppy pushes past me and sets off at a run. Primrose following her with My Mother. Me, Dad and Kol all look at eachother. A single tear streams down Father's eye, Masan Mellark has been his best friend since they were kids. He grabs my hand and we set off running.

In the town square, All the townspeople and half of the Seam people are standing in front of the Bakery, watching. Handing Willow to My Father, I run forward and start pushing through all the citizens, frantically looking for My Sisters and My Mother. I see them stood right at the front, all crying. Looking around, I recognise 2 people, near the front. "Madge! Mayor Undersee!" I shout and they both spin around. Madge is another person ive been friends with for years. Dad has been to many dinner's with The Mayor and Haymitch Abernathy and Madge and The Mayor have come to ours for dinner. She normally only comes to see Me and Kol. Her and Kol have been dating for a few months now and as soon as she sees him she jumps into his arms, crying.

When she pulls away from him with tears in her eyes, I give her a quick hug before holding her at arm's length. "Have they found anyone yet? Are they okay? " I ask, not sure if I want to hear the answer. I can feel the tears threatening to fall. I never really spent much time with The Mellarks like My Family did. When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time with Peeta, he was my Best Friend but after what happened to me when I was 12 we drew apart and for the last 3 years, we haven't talked. He's been in a different crowd than me. The kind of crowd that Poppy and Kol like to get involved with. 'The Townies' I call them. I don't really mind any of them, just would rather stick by myself. I used to be really outgoing but look where that got me. A mum at 13.

"The Baker and his wife are over there." She points behind them and Mother runs off to tend to them, being the owner of the Apothecary and the best Healer the District has, shouting something about bandages at Primrose. "No-one has found the boys yet. Some of the Minors have been going in and out but none of them have been found." Her voice breaks as she says it.

Without thinking or telling anyone else, I turn towards the bakery and run as fast as I can towards it. I can hear the shouts and screams from my family, telling me to stop. I can't stop now though. I have to find them. I have to find Peeta. I have to repay the debt I owe him. Before I have a chance to get to Peeta, a hand grabs me and I look down to see Masan Mellark, The Baker. He's sat on the floor whilst mum begins bandaging up a wound on his thigh. "Katniss. Wait." I kneel down to be face to face with him. The man I've known all my life, the man who can't sit around and do nothing all day. Dont think ive ever actually seen him sit down except from Family meals. "I just want you to know that whatever happens in there, with my boys. He loves you, you know. He always has. Made sure I could tell you if he never got the chance himself." There are tears in his eyes as we both come to the realisation that any one of them boys could die. "Don't go in there, he will never forgive me if I let you go to your death."

I look up with tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheek at this new information. Mr Mellark's hand is still in mine, holding it tight. My Mother locks eyes with me and Prim look's into my face. Their mouths start to say something before I look towards My Father and Brother and Sister. My Father knows what I'm about to do I can see it in his eyes. I mouth one single word to him as he begins to shout at me. "Katniss! Dont!" I turn to My Mother, dropping The Bakers hand and say the same word I just mouthed. "Sorry." Her hands stop and she reaches out for me but I've already stood up. "I Love you." Then I turn and sprint as fast as I can towards the door of the bakery. A few steps away, the big wood sign above the door begins to crack and fall so I throw myself forwards, ignoring the screams behind me. I hit the cold, hard wood of the bakery floor and everything goes dark as the big sign hits the floor, blocking out almost all the light.

"Katniss? Are you okay?" I hear from the other side of the Debris. Dad. "Please tell me you're okay?" I try to shout back but it's no use, the dust in my mouth has all but stopped me breathing, but it's not far off. "Katniss! Please!" I can hear the fear in his voice but knowing that I can't shout back, I set off through what used to be the door to the Kitchen. As I step through, the ceiling gives up. Or at least that's what it sounds like. The upstairs of the Bakery collapses, meaning the roof above me is very unstable and I need to get out of here as quickly as possible. The screams outside become more obvious from here and the back door flies open, revealing My Father and Kol. "Katniss!" Dad shouts, a smile on his face. Almost as suddenly as they appeared, they disappear. Dad reaches out to me as the roof above the door collapses and he can only see through a little gap, big enough for him to shimmy his body through but I tell him to stay there and grab who ever I drag up to the door.

When I turn back around, I see something, a hand underneath the fallen counter. I shuffle forward and grasp the hand. Whoever it is doesn't squeeze back though. Please don't let them be dead. I know that Peeta is the one that works the register normally. My heart begins to break.

I quickly pull myself up and step over the counter. I sit back down on the floor, out of the smoke and start to push the counter away off the body with my legs. It nudges slightly so I give it a harder push and eventually it moves to uncover a body. Leaven Mellark's body to be precise. I try to shake him awake but it's no use. He must have hit his head because he is out cold.

There is only one way that I can get him out of here and that's by dragging him, but I won't be able to drag him through the kitchen and to the back door because he's too heavy. I only have one choice. It's not far from the front door so he is gonna have to go out there. Or where it used to be anyway.

I pull myself to my feet and hold my breath as the smoke and dust takes me again. I grab one of the chairs that litter the floor and swing it as hard as I can against the part of the wall where the door used to be. It hits the wall with a great deal of impact and I hear something up above. I throw myself to the ground in just enough time as the wall collapses around me.

When the noise finally stops, I open my eyes. Nothing hit me or Leaven. The good thing is that there is a big hole where the chair hit the wall. Well a big enough hole to get Leaven through anyway. One of the old beams from the side of door must have been strong enough because it still stands in the correct place and has kept up part of the wall, leaving a big enough gap next to it to slide him out of. A pair of hands come through that I recognize to be Kol's.

I stand up and grab Leaven's legs, pulling as hard as I can to get him over the counter. Once he's over, I grab his arms and pull him the clearest way I can and towards the door, handing him to Kol and soon enough he disappears onto the other side of the door. Free. "Katniss! You next come on!" Kol shouts.

I ignore him and turn around to find the other two. Just as I turn around I hear Kol's voice again. "Lev says check the fridge." Then im off, into the back to locate the fridge. I find it and its on its side. If there was someone near it, they will be under it now. Just as im about to think that I can't move it, the debris where the back door used to be, blasts open, my dad falling through. "Need help?" He says, getting to his feet. I motion to the fridge and he comes over to help me move it. "Right, you grab him whilst I get the fridge up." He finds something to lever the fridge up with and I grab an arm that appears and pull as hard as i can. In no time, I've fallen backwards and landed on a big slat of wood, feeling my back crack, with Rye Mellark on top of me. He's at least a little bit awake but he can't move. "Peet, got locked in-" He reaches out slightly to point to a door on the other side of the room and then collapses and is out cold. Dad grabs him and goes for the back door getting me to follow him but I can't. I have to get Peeta.

I turn away from them once I am sure that they are able to get out and look towards the door that has a lock on the outside, he must have gone it and it locked. "Peeta!" I shout, crawling towards the store room door and pulling it open. Peeta is lying in a heap on the floor with his head in his hands.

Tears form in my eyes at the sight of him. "Peeta." I say and drop down next to him.

"Katniss... Is that you?" He wheezes out.

"Yeah. Come on, we need to get you out!" I move to help him up stops me with his cries of pain.

"Are My Family okay?" He asks, looking me in the eye. I notice that one of his eyes is so bloodshot that you can barely see the white.

"Yeah, they are waiting for you." I say with a small smile. He smiles back and keeps looking at me.

"Thank you so much! Can I just do one more thing before I die?" He asks and doesn't even wait for an answer before pulling me down into a kiss. It tastes of salt from the tears, bread and burning flesh. I kiss him back, regardless of the taste. My first kiss ever and it's with a half dead person, in a store cupboard of a burning building.

I pull away and look at him. "You are not doing to die. We need to get you out of here, your skin is burning off."

"OK!" He agrees and I pull him off the floor. I try to use his arms but he starts screaming in pain again so I let go and pull him up by his waist instead.

When we get out of the store cupboard. I can see Dad carrying Rye through the doorway. I link Peeta's arm around my neck and my arm around his waist and drag him to the door. I have to stop a couple of times because my head starts spinning. I've lost too much blood from my head. I must have hit it when Rye fell on me.

Eventually I see light flood my vision as I get outside. "PEETA!" I hear Mr Mellark shout. I try to make it over to them but I can't. I collapse on the floor right outside the Bakery. Peeta collapses with half his body on top of mine. I feel someone pull him off me and then I black out.

The next time I wake up, I'm in my bed. Was it all a dream? This answer is in my head. No seriously. My head hurts like mad. It all must have been real.

"Katniss?" I hear someone say and I look towards the voice. Poppy is sitting in the chair at the end of my bed.

"The Mellarks?" I ask.

"They're fine." She smiles, "What about you? You've been out for 3 days." She says. Her voice is quiet for some reason.

"What do you mean by fine?" I ask, ignoring her question.

She breathes heavily and looks away from me for a second before looking back, concerned. "Well, Dawn, Rye and Peeta still haven't woken up. Rye has a cracked skull at the back, a couple of cracked ribs and a broken arm. Leaven has a crushed Pelvis and a slipped disk in his spine, which is pressing on his Sciatic Nerve, making him immobile. Mum says that if the impact had been any bigger then he wouldn't be able to walk ever again. Peeta has a very serious head injury. He's completely unconscious but keeps vomiting. There was blood coming from his nose and ears. Mum says he might suffer memory loss. Also he has broken shoulder blades and a neck injury." She says.

"I need to see them." I say and sit up. The room spins and I fall back down. "What's wrong with me?"

"Your skull is cracked, almost in the same place as Ryes. Mum says you've cracked it in the same place as when you where 12 so yours is obviously a little but worse than his." She replies. "You can see them, I'll help you. I know I won't be able to stop you."

As she's helping me sit up, she goes through my condition with me. "Like last time you did it, Mother said that it could mess with your senses for a while, meaning you won't be able to see or hear properly-"

"I can hear and see properly now?" I tell her, even though when I first woke up, my hearing was off.

"Yeah, Mum said that might happen but she said it will probably get progressively worse. She said that you will have difficulty staying awake or keeping energy, so you will be tired a lot of the time. Your nose could start to bleed randomly. Reading or writing problems might occur. You might not be able to understand someone. Obviously you will have a headache. Oh and I don't know if you already know this, but you are also talking weird." She says, grabbing my clothes for me as I sit on the side of my bed.

"Weird?" I ask, secretly trying to notice a change in my voice.

"Yeah, you are speaking slower than normal and some of your words are slurred. It's another side effect of your head injury." She smiles slightly, handing me my clothes. "Kind of like how Haymitch speaks when he has had one too many." We both share a laugh at the drunken Mentor who lives next door to Poppy.

I pull on my last sock and throw my long black hair out of my face before looking at her again, she hands me my wooly cardigan from the chair in the corner that Dad bought me. I take it off her. "So where are The Mellarks?"

"Downstairs." She says back.

When we get downstairs, I'm surprised. All the furniture has been moved out of the way and the room has been taken over by 3 tables. On the 3 tables are Rye (on the left), Peeta (on the right), and Dawn (in the middle). "Katniss!" Masan exclaims from the sofa at the back of the room. "Thank god you're alright!"

"How are you?" I ask him, from the doorway, still unsure whether I want to walk into the room. He shrugs his shoulders meaning he's been better. I guess seeing your wife and your 2 youngest son's unconscious and your oldest son, immobile, does that to you.

Instead of saying more I turn to the other Mellark Man in the room, "Leaven, how are you feeling?" I ask him. He's sitting across the room on the sofa, unmoving.

"Like I've been pushed off a cliff!" He says with a small laugh. "What about you?"

I take a breathe as my headache comes back, "Well, I'm knackered for some reason. I can't walk straight or stand up without help. I can't walk or hear properly and I feel like I've been hit over the head a hundred times but other than that, I'm brilliant." I let out a small laugh and he smiles.

I walk over to Rye first and his shirt has been deposited on the floor. There are big, dark bruises travelling from his chest all down his left arm, which is in a sling and a couple of bandages. His head has been placed on a really fluffy pillow to protect it. Plus there are bruises all over his face and his nose is swollen. It's definitely a strange sight to see a once confident, laughable, joker of a boy to be silent, unmoving and covered in bruises, on a table in my living room.

Next I go to Mrs Mellark. I've never actually liked this woman, she's never liked us. She looks normal, other than a couple of bruises around her ears. Her injury was all inside though so she wouldn't show any injuries.

5 minutes later, I brave it and walk to Peeta's table. I have to stop myself from crying. His hair is still full of blood. His eyes and nose are swollen. His ears have turned blue. His chest is covered in big, black bruises, spreading up his neck and behind his ears. You can tell by looking at him that he hasn't been breathing properly. He is definitely the worst of the three. I'd be surprised if this doesn't hold him back all his life. I'm brought back to what his father had said, 'He loves you you know'. Could it be true? Could that be why he stopped talking to me 4 years ago? Maybe he didn't know how to deal with the feelings anymore.

I would have stared at him forever if I wasn't interrupted just as my hand glided across his cheek. "Katniss?" I hear my mother say. I don't bother wiping the tears away before looking at her. "I'm sorry, I know Peeta means a lot to you but there is something you should know."

Her face drains of colour and fear runs through my blood. "What?" Is all I manage. She sits me down on a stool between Peeta and Rye.

"You should know that we are doing all we can. But when his shoulder blade snapped, a little bit of his bone got lodged in his lung. We pulled it out but there was a lot of bleeding. We have to have someone watching him all the time in case he stops breathing." There are years in her eyes now.

"What are you saying?" I ask, more tears falling from my eyes.

"There is a 95% chance that he won't survive this."

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**~S~**


	2. 2!

**Here it is, chapter 2! feel like its been a while, Hope you enjoy it :)**

**~S~**

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2 week later, not much has changed. The Mellarks are still at ours, in our Living Room. My dad made a joke the other day that he's never gonna get to sit in his chair but none of us mind really because we spend most days there, keeping an eye on the Mellarks anyway and it's only 5 of us, including Willow, that live here so it doesn't disrupt our lives that much. Kol and Poppy live in their own houses, being victors. The Mellarks are recovering fast, except Peeta and Mrs Mellark. Rye woke up a couple of days after me and both of us can now move around, mostly. Sometimes we have to sit down because of sickness or headache. We still need someone beside us but we are kind of helping each other. His arm is healing fast and his ribs are healing even faster.

Leaven is feeling better but still hasn't walked. My mother thinks he will be able to soon. Hopefully today. He's not as weak as he was before and is now able to feed himself and move his arms around fully. Its just his legs that everyone is worried about. He still has the chance of not being able to walk again which would put him out of work and effectively ruin his life. My Mother has him out training with Kol and Dad almost everyday, it's like teaching a baby to walk sometimes.

Peeta still hasn't woken up and we all still have to keep an eye on him. Ever since Mother has told me that he could die, I have hardly left his side. I even fall asleep with my head on the table sometimes. Mother obviously hates it with my head injury, the amount of times she's told me to go to bed is unreal. But I always sneak back down when she's asleep.

The other night, I woke up to the sound of choking. I didn't think anything of it until I realised what it was. Someone gasping for breath. I jumped up to get my mother and because I just woke up and I hadn't fully healed, all the blood rushed to my head and I fell to the floor, winding myself and giving myself a massive headache and sore legs.

Knowing that it was very serious, I crawled over to where Masan slept on the sofa and reached out to slap whatever I reached first which just so happened to be his face.

He woke with a start. "Katniss?" He asks when he looked down at me, lying on the floor. He went to help me up thinking it was something to do with me but I pushed him and started to pull myself off the floor.

"Pe-eta-" I choked out and he shot up and ran out, coming back a couple minutes later with my startled mother. She is still tying her robe around her middle when Masan is pulling her by the hand to get her into the room as fast as he can.

Masan led me over to the sofa when he promised to keep an eye on Peeta so after lots of refusing I finally shut my eyes and went to sleep once Mother had said he was okay. Since that incident, I have refused to leave his side at all, every night I sit awake, expecting it to happen again. I get a few hours during the day making someone promise to stay with him and wake me straight away if something happens. Kol has questioned me many times and I've even had questions off Poppy, why is he so important to me and even when I'm alone, I have no idea, I just know that I can't let him die and I can't leave his side until he wakes up.

We tried and tried to keep Willow's true identity a secret but with her calling me Mummy all the time and called my mum Granny, it got a bit hard so eventually we told them the truth and the reaction was very unexpected. The room went silent and I think Masan she'd a year. They must have figured it out there and then, who the father of my daughter was. I could almost hear them thinking how horrible it was. I'm used to it now though. Even though no-one knows that I was raped, let alone that I have a daughter, I can just imagine what everyone would say if they found out. Wouldn't be good anyway.

Today is the day that I am being forced to leave the house and Peeta Mellark. My mother says I'm well enough to go to school as long as Masan walks with me and picks me up afterwards so she is forcing me to go, even though I want to stay here. I made her promise to ring the school if anything happens though.

"Do I have to go?" I ask Mother at breakfast. It's just me, Willow, Primrose, Mother and Poppy. We sent Masan and Rye into town with some of Dad's money to get all the Mellarks some more clothes. They tried to turn it down at first but My Father wouldn't take it back. We got them some clothes right at the beginning so replace the ones covered in blood and ripped everywhere but having to wash them every day is starting to annoy my mum so Masan and Rye have the good job of going to get more clothes. The only person that is mostly still in the clothes they were wearing that day is Peeta. Masan was able to remove his pants and his boxers but mum had to cut his shirt off and when they got his clean boxers on, they couldn't get his pants on so he's just covered in a blanket now and has been for a while. We keep the heating up in that room just so they don't get cold as it's getting colder and colder outside.

Mother pulls me out of my thoughts then, "Yes, you've been off for 2 weeks now Katniss." She says to me.

"But Prim doesn't have to go back." I argue. Poppy and Kol don't go to school anymore. Perks of winning The Hunger Games I suppose.

Mum has put down her knife and fork now and is staring right at me with a look in her eyes that always scares my Dad. "Because Prim is helping me."

"But I could help?" I ask.

She laughs slightly and I know why. "You don't know how, plus you keep getting in the way when I'm trying to keep Peeta alive."

"Yeh, so I can keep an eye on him!" I can feel my anger rising now. That's only partly true. I feel like something will happen when I'm not there.

"It's not up for discussion Katniss! You're going to school and that's the end of it." She picks up her knife and fork again and carries on eating. That's it. End of discussion.

I slam my spoon on the table and stand up, Willow starts to cry from the loud noise but I let Prim sort her out as I'm too angry at the moment. "Fine!" I shout and leave the room.

"You know, you're so much like your father!" I hear her shout from the kitchen, just as I'm standing at the archway to the sitting room.

"Good!" I shout back, letting all my anger out by kicking the sideboard just near where Peeta is led.

Suddenly a wave of dizziness hits me and I grab ahold of the door frame to keep steady. Note to self: stay calm. Take a seat. I tell myself. I've been doing that a lot lately. My Parents always say that I never know how to quit and I think recently I'm starting to believe it.

Just then, before I even get to the sofa next to Peeta a pair of arms grab me by the waste, that I recognize to be Kol's. I hear my Dad's voice behind him as he leads me to the sofa. He sits me down and my head stops spinning but I'm still not allowed to get up. Not that it's gonna stop Mother making me go to school.

After 5 minutes I'm setting off with Poppy to go to school. As Mother is here looking after The Mellark, Poppy has the job of keeping the Apothecary running as Mum has taught her every single thing that she knows. We hardly get round the corner when she stops me to talk to me.

"Kat, I know that there is a lot going on right now but there is something I need to tell you. You've always been my Best Friend as well as my sister and I found out last night….." I look into her eyes, she's the same height as me so I can see the tears in her eyes as she says it.

I take her hand in mine. "You can tell me anything you know that Poppy." I say with a smile.

She takes a breather and smiles back at me. "Well last night when I was late out the Apothecary, I took a test."

"What kind of test?" I ask her.

"Katniss…" All colour drains from her face, "I'm pregnant." She says with a sad look on her face.

I'm at a loss for words. How could she be pregnant, she doesn't have a boyfriend and she hasn't had a boyfriend in about 6 months now. "I know what you're thinking." She says before I even get a chance to say a word. "Its-" Just before she gets a chance to say anything, Masan and Rye come round the corner.

"Katniss! Poppy!" Masan exclaims. "You off to school?" He asks, looking at me.

I nod and turn back to Poppy. "Don't say anything." She whispers then turns her attention to the 2 men in front of us. "You want to walk with us?"

Rye is the first to speak up. "Definitely. I'd love to see my friends. I'm not supposed to be going back to school for another few weeks yet because of the bakery and something to do with needing time to myself blah blah." He rolls his eyes, making us laugh. We can all tell that he is bored of doing nothing all the time but there isn't much he can do and the school want his family to be all better before any of them come back because they don't think they will be mentally ready for it yet. Not with his baby bro (as he calls him) and his mother lying on tables.

"I best get all this back and help your Mother but thank you for the offer and I will see you later on." He flashes us an award winning smile and walks past us to the house.

Not knowing at all what Poppy was about to say, Me, Her and Rye set off for the town square. Poppy agrees to walk us all the way to school so she can see the teachers. She likes to do it sometimes. As I watch her walk, only slightly in front of me, talking to Rye, I can't stop the thoughts swirling through my head. How could she be pregnant. What happened to me couldn't have happened to her, could it?

I find my palms sweating as I think about that day, I haven't thought about it in ages! I taught my mind to forget that it even happened although with something like that it's pretty much impossible so I just busy myself with other things but with Poppy's revelation, it's all come back.

Eventually we make it to school to find the school yard empty. Great! I'm late! Poppy says that she will walk me to class so Rye has to come with us. He isn't allowed to stay anywhere by himself. We get a few strange looks as we walk down the hallway. I'm used to it now though, I've always had funny looks in this Halls, even before Willow was born. But it's nothing compared to what happens when I get into my class. As soon as I walk through the door, more than half of the class are up on their feet cheering and clapping. Now that has never happened to me before. I smile awkwardly until a teacher gets everyone to sit down. People in this district fear our family. It's very very very rare to have 3 members of the same family as Victor's of The Hunger Games.

"Yes we know that Miss Everdeen is a hero but this is still a school." She says, waving them all down. Soon, the whole class is once again sitting in their chairs and then the teacher turns towards me. "This might be your first day back Miss Everdeen but that does not excuse you, do you mind telling me why you are late?"

"I'm sorry Miss, can't walk very fast anymore." I let out a small laugh to hide the pain of my headache from the cheering. The Teacher nods and leads me inside. I'm just taking a step inside when Poppy says my name. I turn around.

Rye reaches out for something to hold and I grab hold of him whilst Poppy is holding onto his waste from behind. Rye has his eyes scrunched closed tightly, his breath faltering. He needs to sit down.

"You get sat down and I'll get him back to Mum's so he doesn't fall and make his arm or ribs worse. I'll make sure to ring the school if anything happens with Peeta." She hands me my backpack that she had over her shoulder. She refused to let me carry it myself.

"Thanks Pop." I say and start to walk through the room slowly, after giving Rye a pat on the back and a smile which he returns.

"I told Gale to pick you up after the lesson, don't move from that place until he shows up." Poppy says as I sit down in my usual seat. Gale is one of my other friends. I call him my hunting buddy. He's a few years older than me and I basically only know him because his Dad was best friends with my Dad until he died in a mine explosion that my Father should have been in.

She starts to leave the door with Rye, "Ok I know, you don't have to keep telling me." I say rolling my eyes.

"I'm serious Katniss, be careful today please." She says.

"I promise." I reply and she finally leaves.

The lesson goes by really slowly and I constantly find myself looking behind me to where Delly sits by herself at the table she used to sit with Peeta. She smiles at me but all I can see is little visions from the past of Peeta and Delly laughing. Most people would think I wasn't paying attention but I was. I can still hear his laughter and it brings tears to my eyes at the thought that I might never hear it again. The teacher shouts at me a couple of times for not paying attention in class.

As promised, Gale shows up to take me to my next class, 5 minutes before the lesson actually finished because I have to walk slowly. He helps me pack up my pen and paper and helped me up and out of the classroom. The bell rings just as I get to my next class. Gale helps me to my desk and then leaves just as the rest of the class filters through the door.

I spend that whole lesson thinking about Peeta. I can almost hear his laugh coming from a few tables behind me. I can see his blonde hair just like it used to be, not full of blood or what's left of it anyway. His blue eyes which I haven't seen in so long and never truly looked into in the past. I remember all the times when we where younger and would get our parents to let us see each other and we would spend most of our time in the playground of the school, seeing who could jump furthest from the swings. We got so many scrapes and bruises I think my Mum would have used most of her medical supplies on us when we fell over.

I don't see him like that anymore though. Something about him has changed, I hadn't realized it until recently when he has been so close to death that I can't lose him. Maybe what his dad said to me could be true and maybe just maybe, I could love him one day too. I always saw him as my childhood friend, the best friend I'd ever had. Could it be more though, would I let it be more. I'd have to talk to him. If he makes it out the other end alive. He will do, the opposite is just unthinkable.

About half way through my lesson Gale comes back to get me. Peeta is awake and wants to see me. My heart swells. I never knew I could feel like this for another person before. Could it be true? I've always had this part of me that never wanted any of that. With all the starvation in the district and The Hunger Games going on, how could I, possibly? Then with how Willow was conceived, my heart shrunk and I didn't think I could ever love anyone, let alone have any one touch me ever again in the way that married people do. But seeing how happy it makes my Mother and Father even though Poppy and Kol both went into The Hunger Games, My Family is the happiest ever. It just makes me more open to the idea that I could actually fall in love with someone.

We pretty much run to the Victors Village, stopping a couple of times so I can rest but we still make it there in about 10 minutes. When we get to My house, we both run in and straight over to the sitting room. Gale hasn't really come in this house before, I only ever really see him in the woods or at school, we always go our separate ways at the Victors Village gates so it doesn't surprise me how in awe he looks.

A lot of people are stood around when we get there. "Mum?" I ask, her being the first person that I see. She moves aside to show Peeta. He's still lying on his front but his eyes are open. I run over and sit on the stool beside him. The stool that I've sat on so many times before hoping for him to be okay. He looks up at me whilst reaching out with his hand, groaning, because of the pain in his shoulder.

He looks at my face with surprise but I don't think he has fully come round yet so he doesn't fully know who I am. He squeezes my hand as if we never stopped being friends and it fills my heart with hope. "How long was I out?" He croaks.

I squeeze his hand back to let him know that I'm here and have been for the whole time. "2 and a half weeks." I say in reply.

"Oh, thats a long time." He whispers with a small smile, his eyes closing slightly as if contempt.

"Yeh it is. We have all been so worried about you and your mum." I say.

"My Mum?" He asks in confusion.

"Yeh, she was injured in the fire, pretty badly actually." My Mother says from behind me, with her hands on my shoulders.

His eyes open fully again. "Fire?" He asks. Oh no, he doesn't remember anything. Mum said this would happen.

"Yeah, the fire. Do you not remember?" I ask and he slightly shakes his head. "Peeta... the Bakery was on fire... You where all in it. Your dad was the only one that wasn't injured." I'm surprised that nobody explained this to him before I got back.

"Yeh." I hear Rye say coming up behind me now. Peeta's eyes flicker up to him and widen in fear no doubt seeing what he looks like. "And Miss Katniss Everdeen here, saved our lives." I nudge Rye slightly but he carried on. "And she got injured in the process of saving me I believe."

Peeta looks at me again and now he looks slightly worried. "Injured?" He asked, as if seeing who I was for the first time. He looks down to our intertwined hands and his eyes widen even further.

I've never been a good liar so I just tell the truth. "Yeh, Rye was stuck under the fallen fridge, so Dad lifted up the fridge so I could pull Rye out but he must have been stuck on something because his hand slipped out of mine and I fell back, My head hit the corner of one of the counters. I now have a hole in my skull at the back which is affecting me more than you would think." He tries to reach out to hold my face, I think, but he yelps in pain just as he gets to it and flops his arm back onto the table so I take his hand again.

"What about everyone else?" He asks and I open my mouth to speak but Rye gets there first.

"Well, I've got a big hole in my skull just like Katniss, plus a broken arm and a cracked rib. Mum has a very serious head injury. Leaven has a slipped disk in his spine, which is pressing on his sciatic nerve, causing him to not be able to walk and dad... well he's completely fine." Rye finishes with a frown.

"So what's wrong with me because the only thing that doesn't hurt is my legs?" He asks.

"Erm... You have a very serious head injury, it may cause memory loss. Plus you have a neck injury, causing your neck to hardly move. Also, both your shoulder blades are broken and part of the bone from one of them had got lodged in your lung. My mother pulled it out but there is bleeding inside causing you to find it hard to breath at times." I say. "We have to have someone watching you at all times."

"Who's been looking after me?" He asks.

I open my mouth but Rye buts in again. "Katniss has, she refused to leave your side." Peeta looks at me and we keep eye contact for a few minutes before Rye starts laughing. I elbow him quickly, still looking at Peeta. "OWW! RIBS!!" He shouts at me.

I find myself laughing too. Me and Rye have become so close these past 2 weeks, having similar injuries. "Then go away!" I reply and Peeta laughs.

Then Peeta starts laughing whilst wincing in pain "Ow, please don't make me laugh... It hurts." Peeta complains.

"Sorry." I say with a smile, trying to keep the laugh in.

Just as Peeta stops laughing, Willow comes over and tugs my pants leg. Peeta looks down in disbelief that there is a child there. He lets go of my hand and looks down at the small human that looks so much like me it's scary. I'm just about to speak to explain to him when Willow speaks. "Mummy, the dying man is awake." She says with a smile. Peeta's mouth falls open and I feel the room slightly empty until there are only the Mellarks left. Guess none of them want to leave the youngest one alone. I pull Willow up onto my knee and being the socialite that she is, she takes Peeta's hand and shakes it as much as she can and he smiles at her.

I take this as my chance to explain, with tears in my eyes. "Peeta, I want to introduce you to Willow. My daughter." He looks at me, Willow playing with his fingers. She does that a lot.

"Daughter?" His face goes pale as if he's remembering. "How old is she?" He almost demands.

"She's 2." I say, very quietly. I see tears form in his eyes. "Just over 2 actually." As if it would make it a difference.

He gasps slightly in surprise. "So that day?" I nod "Katniss.." there are more tears in his eyes now and I can't help but start crying myself. "You should have told me. You shouldn't have had to go through this alone. Is this why you shut yourself away from me, from everyone?" I thought that would come up.

I nod again, smoothing down Willow's hair whilst she giggles. "I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you but I was ashamed. I thought you would hate me out of disgust."

"Katniss.. I could never hate you. It was not your fault." He looks away, quickly at his brother who's stood next to me then down at the floor. "If only I'd got there sooner. It's all my fault."

Then Masan speaks up from across the room. "Peeta there is nothing you could have done. You and Rye did you best." Peeta doesn't even try and look at his Father.

"My best wasn't good enough." He mumbles, smiling again at Willow who is having a great time playing with everything she can hold. "I'm sorry Katniss."

I smile slightly at the sight of Willow having fun. "Peeta if it wasn't for you she might not have been born, he could have killed me if you hadn't shown up when you did." I take his hand again and he squeezes it tight.

"It's true Peet." Rye says behind me. "Besides, look at her, she's all Katniss. You wouldn't even know." I laugh slightly.

Peeta smiles at me. "Mummy?" Willow says and I look at her. "Is that my daddy?" She whispers loud enough for the whole room to hear and everyone laughs slightly but I can't help but cry. "Sorry Mummy." She hugs me.

"It's okay Baby. No he isn't your Daddy but he can be your Uncle Peeta if he wants to be." Willow looks at him with a smile that could kill.

"I would love nothing more Willow." Peeta beams. I've never seen him look so happy.

For the next half an hour, they get to know each other, she tells him about her toys and her family. He tells her all about when we where kids. That's when I realise just how tired I am, and how much my head hurts. I put Willow in a sitting position on the table and Rye grabs her to stop her falling and I start to massage my temples with my elbows on the table, my faces inches from Peeta's. I start to take deep breaths. The noise in the room isn't helping much. "Katniss?" I hear Peeta ask. "Are you okay?" I nod slightly even though I'm not fine.

I feel someone's hand on my shoulder, massaging it. "Come on Katniss, you need some rest. You've had too much excitement for today." I hear Kol say. I wasn't even aware that he had come back in.

"No I'm fine." I say as loud as I can. Probably wasn't that loud but with my head the way it is, I still can't speak properly.

"Katniss, Kol's right." Peeta says, looking at me.

"No, just get me a cushion." I say and Kol leaves my side, only to come back a couple seconds later with a cushion from the sofa. I grab it off him and place it on the table where my elbows where, just next to Peeta's head. I lean my head down on it and eventually room stops spinning. Eventually I fall asleep, not having enough energy to pull myself back up.

"Katniss?" I hear during my sleep. "Wake up Katniss." I recognise the voice as Prim. What's Prim doing in the woods. I can see her but she looks like a ghost. "Katniss, you need to eat." She says. No she isn't in the woods, she is standing over where I lie in bed.

"Prim?" I whisper. Or at least it sounds like a whisper. I expected it to come out louder than that but I didn't even feel my mouth move.

"Katniss!" She says even louder, pulling me out of my dream. "Katniss you need to wake up!" I open my eyes to see that I was still wrong. We aren't in my bedroom, we are in the Living room. "Everybody is waiting for you. You need to eat." She says and helps me up. I was lying on the sofa. Someone must have moved me whilst I was sleeping.

Whilst walking to the dining room, I notice that it is really dark outside. "What time is it?"

"9pm. You where asleep for 10 hours." Prim replies.

"Wheres Peeta and Willow?"

"In the dining room, everyone is." She says and walks me through the kitchen into the dining room. "Oh and Rory dropped this off for you. I'm not sure what it is but here." She hands me a small blue folder with my name on it. Well it was obviously meant for me. I think I have a good Idea what it is.

He had told me about a week ago that he was planning the bakery, Dad had given the Mayor a lot of money to get the Bakery re-built and he has brought me on board to help. "It must be the plans for the Bakery." I say to her, looking down at the folder. What else would Rory bring me?

"You're planning the Bakery?" Peeta asks.

"Yeh, I've been working on the floor plan." I reply, taking a seat across from him and next to Rye and Willow. "Your father helped a little bit." I started the plan last week because Rory couldn't do it and I realised that I didn't know the original layout for the Bakery so that's where Masan helped out. "When we got all the wood and stuff counted, we got that we had more than we needed and we also have a lot more floor space because the pig pen was destroyed and there is a big garden so all I can tell you is that the Bakery will be bigger than it used to be. Dad, Kol and Poppy put a lot of money forward to make this possible, I'm just helping with the planning." I Smile at him and he smiles back.

"Can I see them?" Peeta asks.

"No its a surprise." I reply, winking and begin to eat. He laughs at my wink.

"But dads seen them?" He whines.

"No he hasn't. He helped me draw the original plans out and I did the new ones all by myself. It's a surprise to you all. Your father isn't allowed to help rebuild it anymore either." Masan nods and the matter is over with a huff from Peeta.

Dinner is a quiet affair as most of us are really hungry after healing. This is the first time Peeta has had real food since the incident and he seems to be having a great time. My mother has to go back and fill his plate up again at least twice. It never gets boring though. We all sit there talking and laughing, until it gets to 11:53pm and I feel the pain that I have become so accustomed too. I lean my head down onto the table and after a couple of seconds the room seems to go extremely quiet which is weird when you are used to the room being full of noise like it has been for the past couple of hours.

I feel, what I think is Kol, stroke my back. "Right, I think it's time for bed." I hear my mother say.

"Where is everyone going to sleep?" Kol asks, still stroking my back.

"Well, now that Peeta is finally awake, he will be able to sleep upstairs and Katniss? I'm presuming that you will agree to sleeping in an actual bed?" I pull my head up off the table but my head is too tired to stay up so I end up leaning back, my head finding its way onto Kol's shoulder. I have no energy to pick it back up so I just let myself stay there. He wraps his arms around me and I see Peeta across the table looking at me with a smile. I'm normally good with the looks on peoples faces but I don't actually know what he is thinking right now.

"But what if something happens?" I ask, finally answering my mothers question.

"Nothings going to happen and besides, you're really tired." She says.

"I'm fine." I say defensively but she knows I'm not.

"No, you're not!" She replies. "Anyway, with how good your hearing is I was thinking of putting Peeta in your room with you. Just in case his breathing ceases again. None of us would be able to hear it. And you've got that spare matress under your bed if you're okay with that? Unless you'd rather have Prim and we can put Rye and Peeta in her room but her bed is a little small. Smallest in the house in fact." It's true, Prims bed is only big enough for one person. Even if she is very small. None of these boys could stay in that bed, their legs would hand straight over the end.

"That's fine." I reply as if it doesn't bother me at all but in fact I'm actually hold in the happiness. At Least this way, I'll be able to keep an eye on him if something happens.

"Right." My mother says in a tone that makes me roll my eyes. It's the tone she uses when she tries to tell me what to do. "Kol, you get Katniss to bed and then get yourself home. Masan, if you wouldn't mind, could you get Peeta to bed. Ash you're gonna have to get Leaven. Prim you need to go to bed and I'll go and check on Dawn. Masan, I presume you're going to stay downstairs again to keep an eye on your wife?" Masan nods and then everyone getting out of their chairs. Kol keeps his arm around me as he helps me up the stairs and into my room just at the top of them.

I Smile at the thought of sleeping on a real mattress, even if it is only my spare one. "Do you want me to get Prim to help you change?" My Brother asks and I shake my head. "I'll see you tomorrow Kat." He smiles and leave the room to go home. My room is a lot more open now as a few weeks ago, Dad pulled Willow's little bed into their room with everything that is going on so where her bed and one of her toy chest's used to be is now a big gap. I've never really been sure why we even had that bed because I think Willow has only slept in it once because she normally sleeps in my bed with me. At Least I'll have somewhere to put my little mattress.

I pull open the top drawer of my chest of drawers and grab some pyjamas, pulling them on as quick as I can before Peeta gets here with Masan. Not long after I've pulled on my top, I hear a knock on the door. "You decent Katniss?" I shout back a yeh and open the door.

"I'll go bathroom whilst you get Peeta ready." I Smile at them and leave to go to the bathroom. Once I get outside the bathroom I decide I don't need and walk towards the back stairs that lead down to the kitchen. In the living room I find My Mother.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" She asks, without even turning around. You get so used to the sound of people's footsteps when you love with them for so long.

"Masan and Rye are getting Peeta changed." I say and she finally turns around.

"Katniss... I need to say sorry..." She says. I'm about to ask 'what for' but it wouldn't take me long to guess anyway. "I know I've been hard on you these past couple of weeks..." I wasn't expecting that. "And I'm really sorry about that. I know that you have been worried about Peeta and I understand why, I shouldn't have been so hard on you and as my apology, you don't have to go to school yet, at least until Peeta goes." She gives me a small reassuring smile and I leaned against the doorframe.

"Mum... I understand why you were so hard on me, You were just trying to keep everyone alive and I got in the way." I reply. She smiles at me and goes back to her work.

"Katniss?" I hear from the stairs. Following the noise, I find Masan walking down the stairs by himself. "Peeta is changed, you can go up if you want." He walks down the stairs fully and stands next to me, watching my mother work.

"Could you both please not watch me?" My mother says with her back still turned.

"Sorry." Masan replies with a small laugh. "Come on Katniss, I'll make you some hot chocolate." He pulls me away from the sitting room and down to the kitchen.

When we get there, he starts rummaging around in the kitchen, looking for the chocolate powder. "So, Hows the Bakery plans coming?" He asks, looking through the bottom cupboards. That's when I finally tell him that we keep it in the pantry.

"You know I can't tell you anything about that." I say, laughing slightly.

"I know, I'm just making conversation." He replies.

"Actually, I need your help with something." I say, remembering something that I needed to ask him.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to know anything?" He asks, flashing me a stereotypical Mellark smile, normally the one that Rye gives to everyone. He's out of the pantry now and turning the kettle on.

"Yeh, well no one knows your sons as well as you do so you're the only person that I can ask." I say and he turns around, leaning against the counter with a smile on his face.

"What wrong?" He asks and I smile slightly.

"Well with the new plans for the Bakery, there is an extra room upstairs, so I was wondering, which one of your sons would prefer their own room?" I ask him.

"Peeta, definitely. He always complains that he has to share a room with his brother and Leaven will probably move out in the next couple of years anyway." He laughs.

That's what I was thinking, just wanted to make sure. "Great thanks." I reply.

After I finish my hot chocolate, I say goodnight to my mother and climb the stairs to go to bed. The hallway is just as cold as it was before. I wrap my arms around myself and slide into my bedroom, shutting the door to keep the cold out as I do every night. "I thought your mum wanted the door open?" Peeta says from behind me, making me jump.

"Oh god! I forgot you were there." I say, spinning around quickly.

"Where else would I be?" He's lying on his front, diagonally across his bed. He doesn't have a shirt on and his back is bandaged up that much that you would think he did have one on.

"That's a good point." I reply with a laugh, crossing over the room, dropping my robe that I put on before I left the room earlier and climbing onto my spare mattress that lies on the floor. "And I'm sure my mother will open it when she comes to bed."

"Yeh I'm Sure she will." He replies. "Maybe you should get some sleep." I nod and turn around in bed, slowly drifting off to sleep to the sound of birds outside the window that I didn't even know was open.

"Goodnight Katniss." I hear Peeta say as sleep pulls me under.

My dreams are filled with good things tonight. Just as much as my heart is filled with joy. There is a very very low chance of Peeta dying now which I'm thankful for. He could still stop breathing but he shouldn't do. Mother would be able to save him if he did.

"Katniss?" I hear someone call through my dream. "Wake up." I recognise the voice but I can't tell who it is.

The meadow starts to disappear and I can feel the soft sheets below me of a bed. "Katniss?" My eyes shoot open as I hear a voice that isnt My Mother or Prim. The sudden change in scenery makes me head hurt and I let out a groan from the pain. "Sorry." He says.

"Peeta?" I ask, finally recognising the voice. I'm not sure how long I was asleep but it felt like minutes.

"Yeh, sorry for waking you up. I have a problem but no-one else is here." He says. I pull me head out of my hands, ignoring the pounding and sit up so I'm level with his face. I've always had such a tall bed but with him lying on this side, I can see him just fine.

"What's wrong." I ask.

"Erm... I need the toilet but I can't get out of bed, would you be able to go and get my dad?" He asks, going a little red.

Letting out a small laugh to reassure him to not be nervous I start to pull myself up. "Yeh sure." I reply, that's what I'm here for anyway. I climb up out of bed and pull my robe around me. The clock alerts me that its 08:34am. My Mother really wasn't joking when she said that I didn't need to go to school today.

I find Masan downstairs, sitting on the sofa as close to his wife as he possibly can. My Mother is sitting beside him fast asleep. "Morning'" He mumble's through the darkness. We have to keep the room as dark as we can at all times apparently it speeds up the healing process.

"Morning... Peeta needs help." I say to him and he finally looks at me, obviously worrying slightly. "It's alright, he just needs help to the toilet."

"Oh right okay, I'm going." He stands up, letting go of his wife's hand that I didn't know he was holding and walks past me, rubbing his eyes and yawning. I catch his arm before he has a chance to walk away and he looks at me.

I can see it better in his face now, the dark circles, the colour that has drained from his face. "Masan, when was the last time you slept?" I ask him.

He laughs slightly. "Honestly, I don't remember." He replies.

"You need to sleep, why don't you go to bed after you have helped Peeta?"

He shakes his head and glances at his wife. "I can't leave her, I can't leave any of them. They need me, I know that if I went to sleep then something would happen."

"Please Masan, You're not helping anyone by being sleep deprived. " I say.

He nods slightly and I let go of his arm. "Yeah, you're right, after I've helped Peeta, I'll get Leaven up and then we can have breakfast."

"And then you will go to sleep?" I ask. By what I remember, the last time he went to sleep was that night that Peeta stopped breathing. He starts walking up the stairs.

"Yeh." Then he disappears. "Would you come and help me please?" He asks from somewhere upstairs and I quickly follow him.

He's standing outside my bedroom when I find him. "I'll get Peeta to the toilet and get him changed, you wake Prim and the boys up, then you can help Peeta to the dining room and I'll get Leaven down, deal?" I nod and he walks into my bedroom to help Peeta. "And I'll get your dad. He's normally up by now, must have had a late night." I laugh and walk into the room next to mine, Prims room.

"Prim?" I ask in the direction of the bed that sits against the back wall. I can see her small frame sleeping under the covers, she's curled up right in the middle of the tiny bed. She mumbles something that I dont catch. "What?" I ask her.

"What time is it?" She asks louder.

"About quarter to 9 little duck." I reply.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" She asks, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

"Mother said I don't have to." I reply. She is watching me, her eyes full of sleep and her hair still quite tidy for someone who has just been asleep. "Now come on, breakfast soon."

"Okay, I'm coming." She says, throwing the duvet off. I leave the room to wake Leaven and Rye up.

Leaven and Rye's room is only across the hallway from Primrose so I only have to take a couple of steps before I'm at their door. I knock but receive no answer so I turn the doorknob hesitantly and step into the room. I'm met with the sound of snoring. Leaven is the only one actually sleeping on the huge queen sized bed in the middle of the back wall. He's lying on his front, without his shirt on, his arms hugging the pillow that his head rests on. The covers are resting at his waist.

This used to be Poppy's room when she lived here and the one next door that is currently for Masan when he uses it is Kol's old room. We have another spare room just next to Mum and Dad's which is the second biggest one, behind theirs of course but Dad uses it as a study now so the bed was removed before I was born. Besides our four bedrooms are all close together whereas the other 2 are down the other side of the hallway with their own bathroom and an en-suite in Mum and Dad's room. We all have one bathroom to share right at the end of the corridor.

Rye is sleeping on a small mattress on the floor. Something tells me that they were meant to sleep in the same bed but didn't want to so Rye slept on the spare mattress. He's lying on his back, cradling his broken arm close to his chest, the blankets around his waist.

"Rye? Leaven?" I try but neither of them move an inch.

I lean down and try to wake Rye but he just mumbles something and falls back asleep, so I decide to move onto Leaven. I step around Rye's mattress and over to the bed, dodging the mess on the floor. I pull open the curtains and the room floods with light but still neither of them move an inch. "Leaven?" I say, shaking his shoulder slightly.

"Ow!" His eyes shoot open and I pull back quickly. "Katniss?" He asks looking up at me.

"Sorry. Breakfast is out soon." I reply, shoving my hands in the pockets of my robe.

"No its fine, you just made me jump that's all... Is my dad around?" He asks.

"Yeh, he's just helping Peeta go to the toilet and then he will come and help you downstairs."

"Okay, where's Rye?" He asks.

"He's still asleep, I couldn't wake him up." I sigh.

"Oh right. He's always been the deepest sleeper." Leaven laughs. "Could you help me up please?"

I nod and grab him around the waist as best I can, pulling hard until he is able to swivel his hips around so he's in a sitting position with his back against the headboard. When I stand up again, my head spins, forcing me to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeh, it was just too much. I'll be fine." I reply, leaning forward and taking deep breaths.

"Yeh, I understand." He replies, stroking the top of my back. "RYE!" He shouts across the room. The sound ripples through my head. A second later, it starts pounding.

"What?" I hear Rye ask. At Least he's awake now.

"Get up! Breakfast will be out soon." Leaven says.

"Katniss?" I hear from the door. I look up from where my head sits in my hands and find Masan standing at the door with Peeta. "You okay?"

"Yeh I'm fine." I reply.

"Okay well are you alright to help Peeta downstairs to the dining room?" He asks and I nod.

I pull myself up to my feet but the room spins again. I reach out for something to grab and I feel somebody take my hand. I'm guessing that it's Leaven as he is the only person close enough.

When the spinning finally stops I'm just left with the pounding through my skull. I walk to the door, letting go of Leavens hand and taking hold of Peeta's arm.

"Okay, he doesn't need serious help, just make sure that he gets downstairs without falling." I nod and guide Peeta towards the stairs as Masan disappears into the bedroom shutting the door behind him. Good thing about helping Peeta now is that he can walk fine, just slower than normal but he can't move his back or his arms so if he slips slightly and off instinct put his arms out or does anything with his arms it could cause more problems to his shoulder blades so you basically just have to make sure he doesn't fall or put his arms out for anything.

I take his hand in mine, I'm not entirely sure why I do it but I can't help myself. His little yelps of pain aren't very nice to listen to and every time one leaves his mouth, I have to stop and ask him if he is okay. Everytime, he assures me that he is but I can tell that he isn't. I'm guessing he just likes my hand in his. I hope.

When we finally make it to the bottom of the stairs, Peeta sighs in relief. "I'm glad that's over, remind me to never do that again." He laughs slightly and I go to step down the last step.

I dont realise what is happening until I hear my name being called and feel my forehead hit something hard. I don't black out but my eyes don't focus properly. "Katniss are you alright?" I hear Peeta ask but I don't have enough energy to move or talk, so I just lay still with my eyes closed for a minute. "Oh god! DAD! RYE!" The sound of him shouting, ratlles through my skull and I force my hand out to tell him to stop.

"No..." I mumble.

He grabs my hand tightly and comes closer. "What?"

"Dont shout..." I get out, realising just how messed up my voice is.

He cradles my head in his hands but when I shout in pain, he stops. I've got no idea how he managed to get on the floor but I can't bring myself to speak again. The blow to my head has rendered my body useless. I can't move anything no matter how much I try, not even my eyes. I can just keep them closed and listen. "Just let me get help." He says, attempting to move away but I just pull him back.

I start getting feeling back in my hands and feet and I put out my hand to stop him. "No, just help me to the dining room." I force out.

"Are you sure?" He asks and I nod.

It takes us 5 minutes but we eventually are both up and walking towards the dining room. Masan, Leaven and Rye had walked past us earlier so they are already in the dining room. They offered to help but Peeta told them that I was fine so they carried on.

My mouth suddenly becomes dry. I can hardly see a thing and my head is pounding like mad. "You go in, I'm just going to get some water." I choke out and Peeta looks at me.

"Are you sure?" He asks, letting go of my waist. I nod and he lets go of me fully, standing there for a second to make sure that I don't fall and then walks into the dining room after I assure him, 5 more times, that I'm completely fine.

It's not until he's gone and I'm alone that I realise just how much I need him, or anyone for that matter. My head is pounding so much, that I can even feel it in my toes.I feel like the slightest noise will rip my skull in two and I can taste blood for some reason. I can't see at all out of my right eye and my left eye is all fuzzy. I can barely feel my legs and my arms aren't much better.

I realise just how bad it is, when I'm walking towards the dining room and the glass of water I was holding in my hand, falls to the ground with a load smash. I need to get to the dining room and to My Mother. "MUM!" I attempt but nothing comes out other than a little squeaky noise.

I keep stumbling until I reach the door to the dining room and I fall against the door frame. "Katniss, you're just in time." I hear Masan say. Or at least I think that's what he said I can feel everything in my body switching off bit by bit. The room is dark and I'm losing feeling in my fingers so the frame I'm holding onto at the moment, I can't feel.

My mother gasps. "Katniss? Your eyes, they're... red... Bloodshot?" My Mother says.

"Mum, help!" I say as loud as I can and this time it comes out properly. I didn't know what else to say other than that.

She's standing up now I think, I can hear multiple chairs moving. "Katniss?" My Mother replies, slightly startled.

I'm about to say something but my head spins and I fall again. This time it's worse though because I hit my head on something hard on the way down, spinning me around, causing the impact from the floor to all go to the back of my head where I was first injured at the Bakery. The last thing I see is Peeta and Rye, reaching out for me with fear in their eyes but not getting their quick enough.

The next time I wake up its to the sound of voices. "I know Peet." Rye. There is pain in his voice.

"Do you?" Peeta replies. Anger. "Katniss is the one that saved us all Rye and she is paying the price. We are almost healed and she won't be healed for a good month yet."

"Damn it Peeta! I know, I feel just as bad as you do!" Rye's voice vibrates through my skull until it reaches the back where it feels like someone has stabbed me in the brain. I groan and attempt to bring my hands up to cover my ears but it hurts so much that I have to put them back down.

"Katniss!"Peeta shouts, causing my head to hurt again. He runs over to me, which I wasn't aware he could do. Just as soon as he gets to me, bile rises up in my throat and I throw up all down myself and the table, I was only able to move my head enough to make sure I don't choke on it.

They both step back but not for long. "I'll go and get Evelyn." Rye says. I notice that his arm is no longer in a sling.

"H-H-How long was I-I out?" I ask Peeta. I ask but it's strange, it's like it's not me talking. U can't feel my lips moving. I can't see properly and I can just about hear the voices. My body won't move however much I will it to and when Peeta takes my hand in his it just feels like tingles.

I can see the tears in his eyes. "I think you should wait for your mother." He replies, looking down. What is going on?

"My M-M-Mother?" I stutter.

"Yeh. Here she is." I try to turn my head but I've lost all energy so I wait for her to come into my line of vision. When she does, she's with Leaven. A walking Leaven.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake." My Mother says. "Now, you hit your head pretty hard."

"H-How l-long was I-I out?" I ask.

"13 days now, I believe. You caused serious damage to the back of your head, your skull and the nerves. You have damaged your speech which should only be temporary, along with the use of your legs. I'm sorry to say this but you won't be able to walk for a while. There is a good chance that after awhile you will have difficulty taking in information, but you won't have to deal with that yet. You severely damaged your neck and I wouldn't be surprised if you suffer from headaches and sickness for the next year." I feel my head spin, just by taking in all this new information. I guess she was wrong that I wouldn't have to deal with it yet. "Whilst you where out you had at least 2 seizures a day because of how hard you hit your head. I've had to shave off part of your hair at the back to see what's there and I've patched up what I can, we will just have to let time heal the rest." Now she has tears in her eyes and My Father appears behind her looking like he hasn't slept in 2 weeks.

"Thats p-p-pretty s-serious." I say with a small laugh to hide the fact that I'm trying not to cry.

"Yes it is." Leaven replies.

"W-What happened t-to y-you three?" I ask.

"Stop trying to speak Katniss." She orders and I nod. "I'll leave Peeta to explain the rest. Come on boys." My Mother says and leads Dad, Leaven and Rye out of the room.

I direct my eyes towards Peeta. He's sitting on the stool that I used to sit on to watch him. He has his head in his hands and I can hear the sound of him quietly sobbing. "W-W-Whats wrong?" I ask, reaching out to pull his hands away from his face.

He takes my hand in both of his and looks at me. He has tears streaming down his face. "It's all my fault." He says.

"N-No it isn't." I say, trying to reassure him, it doesn't seem to be working though.

"It is, the fire, everyone getting injured, you getting hurt, all of it, it was all because of me." More tears fall from his eyes and I grip his hand as tight as I can.

"H-How is it y-your f-fault?" I ask.

"Well, the day of the fire, I was in the kitchen when it happened. I had just heard My Mother and Father go upstairs, so I took a break because My Mother never lets me take a break. Anyway, I was sitting at the counter in the kitchen and I had completely forgotten about the bread I had just put in the oven and I knew I had to get some more stuff from the store room, so I went into it but before I did, I put a chair to stop it closing because it locks automatically from the outside. The chair must have moved because the door closed." He has more tears streaming down his face and I take hold of hands to calm him down a little bit. He lets out a shaky breath and closes his eyes momentarily.

"I-Its okay t-take your t-time." I get out, I'm actually surprised that anyone can even understand what I'm saying.

He looks at our entwined hands and begins stroking circles on the back of my left hand, not that I can feel it. "W-When the door closed, I heard an explosion coming from the other side of it then the fire alarm started but I'm not sure how it exploded because we have this safety thing at the back of the ovens that contains the fire so it wouldn't explode. Then I heard a scream from upstairs and I knew it was my mother. I then heard Leaven shout my name but then another explosion happened and it must have blasted him off his feet because he stopped shouting for me. A third explosion happened a couple minutes later, which made me lose my balance because I don't remember anything else after that..." I nod in understanding as a couple of tears fall from my eyes, remembering that day. "Until a couple of days ago, when the memories started to come back fully."

My eyes grow wide. "W-What?" What does he remember? "What do you r-remember?" I'm trying to remember it myself but I can't bring the memories to the front of my brain.

"You. I remember you." He looks up at me and our eyes lock. "You... kissed me back... when I kissed you?... Why?" He's still watching me. Oh yeah, now I remember.

"Yeh... I-I'm s-s-sorry." I say, not taking my eyes off him.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you at all. I thought I was going to die." He says with a small laugh.

As if he would think that. It hurts me that he would think that. "I-I wasnt g-going t-to leave y-you to d-die." I say to him.

He's crying more now. I don't think I've ever seen him cry, he's never been the kind of person to show his emotions. "I actually wanted you to." He says.

"I-I w-wasnt g-going t-to l-l-" That's when my voice goes completely. I had a feeling this would happen eventually.

"Well, thank you for everything you did, it means the world to me and my family." He says and squeezes my hands. His eyes are watching mine and I don't know why I do it but I pull him down by his shirt and kiss him hard, this time it feels like a normal kiss between two people, not full of the taste of burning flesh or anything like that. His mouth tastes like meat, I think its rabbit meat but I'm not so sure. His hand finds my hair and my stays in his other hand as I cant move that well. He pulls away first, granted I can't but still.

"S-Sorry..." I say and he doesn't say anything back, too shocked probably.

"Peeta?" I hear from the door. I can't turn my head to look at who it is but I can tell by the voice that its Leaven. "Evelyn has made food, are you coming?" Peeta nods.

"What about Katniss?" He asks.

"Ash will be in in a minute to carry her through." Leaven says and leaves the room. Peeta follows a second later keeping his eyes on me. I can still feel his lips on mine and the taste in my mouth.

When Dad finally shows up, I'm kind of bored and I must have thought about everything I could have possibly thought about. "Sorry I'm late, I had to help your mother." He slides his arms under my shoulder blades and legs and pain ripples through my body. "Sorry." He says and I just shake my head.

When we get to the dining room and he places me on a chair, that's when I finally breath. "Right, now we can eat." My Mother says and I start eating as much food as my stomach can take. My Mother must have expected it because she seems to have put extra on my plate. After that, I end up stealing some of Peeta's, well actually he gives it to me but I still get it anyway.

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**Hope you liked it! leave a review!**


	3. 3!

**Its been a while but here you go :)**

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3.

November 1st, It's been 2 months since the Mellarks were brought to ours after the Bakery burnt down. It's been a whole month since I woke up again and I'm still not fully healed. My headaches aren't as bad or frequent as they used to be. Sometimes my vision and hearing will go funny and a lot of the time, I feel sick. I'm able to walk now, even if I do walk slower than normal. Today is the day that we are all going to the Bakery to welcome the Mellarks home.

I've grown a lot closer to the Mellarks, mainly Peeta and Rye though. They always make me laugh and whilst I have been healing they have always been there for me, carrying me around and getting me food and stuff like that. Dad and Mom have been busy with the Bakery and Masan has been looking after his wife so I guess that only leaves them 2 anyway but it's been really good.

I wake up at 5am, planning on getting everything sorted before I have to set off for the Bakery. Dad is taking me over at about 9am so I can help get the party started. He has a huge crate of food and drinks already there. He should have taken it over last night whilst we were sleeping. We also picked up the massive haul of ingredients that Dad ordered from the Capitol so that they can get it up and running again as soon as possible.

Today is also Gale's 18th birthday so I have to run and get his present when we get into the town square. I went into the cobblers a couple days ago to ask if he can make some boots for Gale and obviously he agreed I just have to pick them up today. It's going to be a very busy day. Just under a month ago was Kol's birthday too he was 18 so I have to get something for him, having been able to get out and about properly until about a week ago and I still haven't figured out what to get for him. I suppose he has always liked books but I wouldn't know where to start with getting him a book. Maybe I can ask Madge, she knows him probably better than most and likes books herself. She might be able to suggest something.

I turn around to see Peeta looking at me. "I thought you were asleep?" He says, pulling himself up into a sitting position. I'm lying on my mattress on the floor still willing myself to get up. I've always been a morning person, going out into the woods and that but recently I've been sleeping so much to get my strength back up that I just can't find the energy anymore.

"No, I've been awake for a while." I say to him and he laughs slightly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and attempting to comb through the mess that is his hair. "You excited to go home today?" I ask him and he nods. For the past couple of days he has been complaining. Anybody else would not complain over staying in a Victors Village house because its a lot better than any other house but Peeta has found something to complain about.

"Not looking forward to school though." He focuses on me and I return his gaze. I'm not really sure why but that blue that gives his eyes their colour, seems to make everything better and I momentarily forget about all the bad that has happened. "But I am looking forward to you though." He holds my gaze for a couple more seconds and then looks away, and just like that, the air becomes awkward. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant being your friend." He says, trying to cover up what he actually meant. "It's been a long time since we were as happy together as we have been this month. I've missed you Katniss."

Ifindmyselfsmiling,lookingtowardsthefloor.He'sright,it'sbeensodifferentrecently,it'sthehappiestI'vebeensinceWillowwasborn."I know." I say to him as the awkwardness slowly diminishes from the air. "Its fine, I'm looking forward to being your friend too." He smiles at me and climbs out of bed to get his clothes.

I pull myself up into a sitting position but as I do, My still healing head spins and bile rises up in my throat. I throw my legs over the edge of the mattress and jump up, knocking over a startled Peeta as I scramble for the door and acrossthe hall,into the bathroom.

I throw up everything in my stomach, losing all the food that I have built up to make myself stronger. Once it's all gone and the toilet is flushed, I curl my legs underneath me and lean my head against the toilet. The spinning stops. I don't know how much longer I can take this. Why can't it just go away. Mum says it could last a while. Maybe 6 months to a year. God I must have hit my head pretty hard.Iguesshittingit3timesinasmanyyearswilldothattoaperson.

I don't think that I have been doing a bad job so far. Its normally just sickness during the day, every other day but there was one day not long after I woke up that I was really ill. I couldn't stop my head from spinning and my mother had to put a bin next to my bed incase I throw up because I was too weak to make it to the bathroom. Peeta had the job of looking after me. He was more than happy to do it but I haven't ever seen him so worried. Granted, I haven't seen him for a long time but still he had never been this worried around me before, not even for his mum. He hadgiven me some blankets from Rye and Leavens room which they were happy to give up. Then I was still cold so he had shut the window, which I know he can't sleep with closed and eventually he had even come and got me in my own bed that he's been sleepingin normallyand he climbed in after me to keep me warm. It felt nice and soon enough I had warmed up and was able to get to sleep. I had to stay in bed for a couple of days after that though. Peeta stayed with me and we just spent the time talking. Until he had to go downstairs for something to eat of course.

"Katniss?" I hear someone say from behind me, but its not coming from the direction of the door. "Is that you?" The voice says again and this time I recognise it as Rye. I gather that he is in the shower as I can hear the water running. Luckily the shower isn't made of glass but its made of tile with a curtain.

"Yeh, sorry. I didn't realise you were in the shower." I say in reply and hear him chuckle.

"Its okay." I pull myself to my feet and start towards the door. "I'll see you at Breakfast." Onething I've realised whilsthavingthem stay here is that none of the Mellark boys care if you seethemnaked.Ryemostofall.IfIhadn'ttoldhimawhilebackthatIdidn'tlikenuditymuch,hewouldhavewalkedstraightoutofthatshowerwithastupidgrinonhisface.

"Yeh, Bye." I reply and shut the door behind me, stopping as I see Peeta standing in the doorway to mybedroom.

"You alright?" He asks although he can probably guess that I'm not. "Sorry." His lips curl up into a small smile which I return easily. He is already dressed so that means that I don't have to wait to get dressed.

"I'm gonna go and get dressed. Big day today." I laugh as he moves aside for me to go into the room.

"I'll see you at Breakfast." He says and walks off down the hallway to the stairs.

I dress quickly and join everyone at the dining table. "Hey Katniss." My Mother says and I nod in her direction. I look around the table to see that everyone is already up and here, ready for food, I'm surprised they aren't still asleep after everything that has happened. I look at the table and there is food in their places but they aren't eating it. "Your food is in the kitchen Katniss." She says as I look down at my place mat to see that its empty. "We didn't know if you would be up for eating this morning, Peeta told us you where sick."

"Mum, I'm sick almost every morning and besides we have a lot to do today. I don't think I'll be of much help if I haven't eaten anything." I smile in the direction of the Mellarks and walk into the kitchen to get my food.

As I eat my food, I go through the list of things that I have to do today in my head. Stuff that needs to be done this morning and stuff that needs to be done at the Bakery.

\- Pack up all the clothes for the Mellarks so we can get it to theirs.

-DropWillowoffatGale'sMum'swhosonicelyofferedtolookafterherasshewon'tbeatthepartytonight.

\- Go see Madge about Kol.

\- Get Kol's present.

\- Pick up Gale's present.

\- At the Bakery, make sure all the food is there and set up.

\- Get all the drinks in the fridge for later.

\- Put the Haul of ingredients away in the store cupboard for later use at the Bakery. (which is Dad and Haymitch's job.Dad basically forced Haymitch Abernathy to help with The Bakery about 2 weeks ago to get him off his drunk ass.)

\- Get the place in a fit state for a party.

\- Let everyone in. (Which someone else will do whilst I do the next step.)

\- Go back to mine and help the Mellarks get everything over to the Bakery.

\- Above all, Have fun!!!!

Wow! I cant believe how much we have to do today, I'm going to end up tired before the party even starts. I actually went to sleep early last night for that precise reason but I can still see myself leaving the party early.

I'm quite excited to go home after it but it is going to feel pretty weird. Not waking up to Peeta in the morning. Not having our late night conversations about random stuff because none of us were really that tired. We have really grown a lot closer these past 2 months and I can see us spending time together at school. Something tells me that he would very much rather spend time with his Townie friends instead of me though.

"Katniss, are you finished?" I hear Peeta ask me, bringing me out of my thoughts. I realise now just how much my head is actually hurting. I start to rub my forehead in an attempt to push the headache back. That is the last thing that I need today. "You alright?" He asks, stroking the top of my back slightly.

"Yeh, sorry, I was just thinking about everything that had to be done today and it just kind of baffled my mind." I say but he still looks concerned. "It's just a headache, I'll be fine soon." The table around me is empty and it's just me and Peeta in the whole room. I didn't even hear them leave.

Im dressed and ready to leave, waiting for Dad to quit kissing Mother when the phone rings. I pull it to my ear. "Hello?" I ask.

"Katniss?" Someone replies. "Its Kol. I'm at the Bakery, as you can see we finally got the electricity sorted." He laughs. "Anyway, I'm ringing to let you know that we have completely finished now. Nothing left to do. Gale just went out to get the table for the sitting room from the Apothecary. Poppy says it's not needed anymore and It's a 150 year old apothecary table and its still in really good condition. Guessing you know which one I mean. Anyway, after that, we are just waiting for you, Dad and Haymitch to come by. Then me and Dad can get going for the train station and we can set up." He says a bye and hangs up the phone. He's never been one for phones. Guessnoonein12isreally.

I place the phone back on the receiver, and my mind wanders to Poppy. Since her revelation we have hardly seen her . Apparently she came by a few times after I had hit my head again and was unconscious but other than that I've only seen her at meal times, not even every meal time. Sometimes she wants to stay at hers by herself. She's been doing it a lot more recently. My guess is that she is starting to show and isn't ready to tell anyone yet. I haven't heard anything more about it since she told me she was pregnant. I've no idea how far along she is or who the father is. I'll have to get hold of her at one point, locking herself away from everyone else must be taking its toll. Mum went back to work at the Apothecary a few days ago and she said that Poppy doesn't show up for work anymore.

I'm still stood there with my hand on the phone when Dad finally walks down the stairs,carryingWillow."Took you long enough." I say to him. Forgetting about Poppy, I've got too much to do today I'll worry about it later when everything is done.

"Come on darling, let's get going." He says, grabbing my arm in his. IpickupWillow'sovernightbagandwesetoff.

After 45 minutes, we make it to the Bakery. We pick a hungover haymitch up from his house and then take a trip to Madge's house to find out what book to get Kol, then a trip to the book shop just down a side street from the Town Square and then back onto the Town Square for the Cobbler's to pick up Gale's shoes and eventually we walk through the new doors of the Bakery which looks amazing. The new front of the Bakery is all glass, whereas before, it was brick with a glass door. The lights are off in the front but you can just make out the table. They have had someone make them a new sign. Its round and in the middle it says 'Bakery'. The whole sign together says 'Mellark Bakery, Traditional baked goods.' It never said that before. It always said 'Mellark Bakery' and that was it.

In front of me, Haymitch is rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Looks good doesn't it?" He asks, momentarily turning to flash us a smile. This is the first time I am seeing it with my own eyes.

"Its great." I answer, in awe over how great it looks! Makes the rest of the Town Square look horrible. This is going to mean good publicity for The Bakery if anyone from the Capitol come here.

"Well you planned it." Dad says with a laugh.

"Yeh I know, I didn't expect it to look like this though." He laughs at me again and leads me round the back because the front door is locked as it usually is if the Bakery isn't open.

"Katniss!" Kol shouts when we walk through the back. I'm lead into the kitchen and it looks the same as it always did not that I saw much of it before, just what you could see from the old backdoor. The ovens and the fridge are in the same place as the old ones where. The only change is an archway next to where the backdoor is. I walk over and pop my head round to see a cozy little sitting area with a fire, 2 3 seater sofas and a nice little coffee table in the middle. Gale is sitting there by himself, watching the fire, his feet up on the coffee table as if he lived here.

"Hey." I say and he cranes his head round to see me, pulling himself up to his feet. I get a quick hug before Haymitch drags him off to the train station to get this months Haul, with Dad following right behind them. Then it's just Me and Kol.

"You like it?" Kol asks, appearing at my shoulder.

"Yeh its great." I say, still looking around the huge kitchen.

"You want to see upstairs?" He asks me and I nod enthusiastically. I never got to see upstairs before but I always got told that it was the same as the rest of the town. 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a sitting room upstairs. I follow Kol back through the kitchen, listening to him explain where all the food is going and everything.

When we get upstairs, the first place he shows me is the bathroom, it's just like a normal bathroom but it's quite a lot bigger than what I expect the rest of the Town's to look like. Masan and Dawn's bedroom has a king sized bed in along with a set of drawers and a bedside table. "The bed was salvaged from the wreckage, if you look closely you can see that some of the bed posts are still a little bit burnt. The matching drawers and bedside table, we got from the Kade's over at the sweetshop.

Rye and Leavens room has 2 single beds, side by side, one with a set of drawers at the end and the other with a wardrobe. Rory tells me that nothing in this room survived the fire but that one of the beds and mattresses' was from the Bakery basement, which went untouched, the other was from the clothes shop basement. You see, all people in town put their old furniture in their basement or donate it to the furniture store across town. In this kind of situation, it's very useful. The drawers came from the butchers next door and the wardrobe was actually bought by Haymitch. I never knewHaymitch hadsuch a heart to be honest. In the past couple of months he's completely changed, I wonder why.

In Peeta's room, there isn't an actual bed. It's actually a sofa that pulls out into a double bed from Delly at the Cobblers. He also has a set of drawers with a mirror attached to it from the Blacksmiths. There is also a bedside table from the Bistro across the square and a small chair that they were able to salvage from the wreckage. Apparently they didn't have anywhere else that it would fit so it ended up here. "I reckon they'll love it Kol." I say and he smiles at me. We walk out the room and back downstairs to get everything ready.

Downstairs, the place it tidy, the food is waiting to be set up and Haymitch, Dad and Gale have returned and are getting everything into the store cupboard. Delly and Harvey (her little brother) are walking through the door which means people are gonna start arriving about now.

At 10, I leave Delly and Gale to set up the food and get everyone in whilst I go back to My House to get the Mellarks. It only takes 10 minutes to get back and when I do, I find everyone already sat round the table, talking. "So is everyone ready?" I ask no-one in particular.

"Yeh, we've been ready for about half an hour but Evelyn said we had to wait for you." Masan says.

"Yeh, I wanted to help." I lie. Peeta narrows his eyes at me as if he knows I'm lying. I know I'm not a very good liar I'm guessing he remembers that from when we where younger. He doesn't say anything which I'm glad about. He would ruin the surprise.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go." Peeta says, picking up his bag. We set off.

Prim talks to Rye and Leaven on the way back and Mum talks to Masan. Me and Peeta however, walk ahead of everyone else. "You're planning something aren't you?" He whispers in my ear, sending shivers down my spine and almost scaring me to death.

"No, of course not. Why would you say that?" I say smiling, he clearly knows I'm a bad liar.

"You're lying, I'll get it out of you if I have too." He says with a mischievous grin.

"And how would you do that Mellark?" I ask Laughing.

"Erm... Are you ticklish?"

"Oh, no please dont, I hate it." I reply. I think about lying but apparently he can see right through me.

"Then tell me."

"I can't, it's a surprise." I say truthfully.

"You can tell me. I won't tell anyone." He says, still smiling.

"I cant its a surprise for everyone."

"Fine if you want it that way." His lips curl up into a grin and shivers run through me as he hands his bag to Rye behind us. I react quickly, setting off running. The sound of the snow crunching behind me, alerts me of Peeta's feet coming quickly behind me.

He knows full well that he can't run as fast as my but he's not doing bad at trying. "I'm gonna get you if you don't tell me!" He shouts from behind me.

"I'll never tell you." I shout back with a laugh. In this moment I've never felt so happy.

I'm trying to run at my normal fast pace but its hard because of the snow. Suddenly I feel something catch at my feet and I put my hands out quickly to stop me hitting my head on the floor, don't want to make it worse. As I hit the pile of snow on the ground, my neck jerks forward, sending shocks of pain through the back of my skull and the back of my lungs, leaving me almost completely breathless. The laugh still falls out of my mouth though as Peeta falls down onto the ground next to me, laughing too.

The pain sets in eventually and I stop laughing. Peeta looks at me and I can tell how worried he is without even looking at him. I wave my hand slightly to let him know that I'm alright and he pulls himself up, then offers me his hand and pulls me up slowly, steadying me as I massage the back of my neck and try to get my breath back, pain still rippling through my spine.

He starts wiping the snow off me whilst speaking. "So, you gonna tell me what's going on?" He asks, I know that he is trying to keep my mind off the pain which I am thankful for.

"You're gonna have to wait and see just like everyone else." I say and he makes a kind of annoying whining sound before letting out a sigh and giving up, leading me back over to everybody else. Rye is watching us both with a stupid, goofy grin on his face. "What?" I ask, slightly annoyed at all the staring. His eyes roam around us both and I feel the need to pull myself away from Peeta.

"What was going on over there?" Rye asks, laughing, still looking at us. The rest of our families are stood behind him watching us too as if they just found us engaging in some kind of sexual activity.

"Nothing." I reply, going slightly red, thinking about the awkwardness.

"Yeh sure." Rye replies, I duck my head as Leaven hands Peeta'sbag back and they start walking ahead. That's when Me and Peeta burst out into laughter. For the life of me I can't stop smiling or stop the redness taking over my face.

We set off once again to the Bakery, trying to control our laughter. It doesn't work and we make it to the Bakery, in tears from all the laughing. I lead them all round the back and through the back door. The lights are offand when I switch them on I know what's going to happen, they don't. I let them all get through the door before I switch on the light. "SURPRISE!" Echos' through the entire room. Each one of the Mellarks jump and I burst out laughing at the look on Rye's face.

I get a couple shocked faces from the Mellarks but they start going around thanking people, almost instantly. Kol is first on that list, as he gets hoarded by questions by Masan and Leaven. Rye however, goes straight over the drinks and I don't blame him at all, I think we all deserve one after everything. "You want a drink?" Peeta asks at my side, he probably saw me, eyeing the drinks table so fondly.

"Yeh please. I don't mind what." I reply to him and begin moving the bags to one side as everyone just kind of left them where they stood. After a couple of seconds, Peeta appears at my side again holding a bottle of something. "What is it?" I ask, taking a taste of it. I can taste strawberries and something else but I can't put my finger on it.

"Its strawberry and Mango cider, you like it?" He asks and I nod, finally tasting the Mango. "You want help?" He motions towards the bags that they all left scattered around the front door and I nod, placing my drink down on the small table to my right.

"I was thinking about taking them upstairs, you can help and maybe I can show you the rest of the house?" I ask and he nods, enthusiastically. I smile and grab 2 of the bags. Peeta grabs 2 more and we start up the stairs.

We get to the top, just as Rye shows up behind us. "Sneaking away from the party already are we?" He asks, suggestively with a wink. Peeta nudges him away but he ends up following us anyway.

"This is your parents room. Kol said that the bed was salvaged from the fire but the drawers and the bedside table are from The Kade's." I tell them both, dropping Masan's bag on his bed.

Then I show them the bathroom but Peeta says that it just looks the same as it used to. I have no idea how Kol got them to make it like it used to look because I don't think he has ever been here before but oh well. I guess he just got lucky. "Rye, this is yours and Leavens room." I say to him and register the confusion on Peeta's face as his name wasn't mentioned. I forgot that he didn't know he had his own room. "Nothing in this room survived the fire which means that everything that was here before is gone, I'm sorry. But one of the beds and mattresses is from the Bakery basement, the other is from the clothes shop basement. The drawers came from the butchers next door and the wardrobe was actually bought by Haymitch. Which was actually really nice of him. I'll leave you to look around it." Peeta drops Rye's bag on one of the beds and I put Leavens on the other.

When I shut the door, Peeta turns to me. "And what about me? Am I sleeping in the hall?" He jokes.

"No, actually, I talked to your dad about it, he said that you would be the most likely to want their own room." I lead him down the hallway to the room at the back of the house, over what is now the sitting room and part of the kitchen. "So..." I push the door open and Peeta peers inside. "it's not much but its all yours."

"Seriously?" He asks, excitement lighting up his face. "This is my room?" I guess his Dad was right.

"Yeh, sorry it's not much but we did everything we could to make it right." I say but he steps in, dropping his stuff by the door. Thisroomis probably5timessmallerthanmineathomethathehasgotusedtosleepingin.Nowlookingatit,realisinghowsmallitisIhopehelikesit.

"Are you joking? This is amazing!!" He says, Laughing. "Thank you so much!" He pulls himself up to his feet and before I can even say anything, he is hugging me. "So where is it all from? Because I've never seen any of this stuff before." He says jokingly.

"Well, you might recognise the chair, we were able to salvage is from the wreckage, there isn't anywhere else to put it, so it ended up in here. The drawers where from the Blacksmiths. The little bedside table is from the Bistro and the bed isn't actually a bed, its a sofa that pulls out into a bed, its from the shoe shop." I say as he looks around. "The bed will probably be too small for you and your feet will hang over the end but I reckon it's better than having to share a room with Rye." He laughs at me before pulling me into his arms again. "It doesn't have actual pillows, just the cushions that were on the sofa but they are almost as big as pillows so we can just call them pillows." He laughs again and pulls away. "Oh plus, I got them to put it next to the window because I know you like the window open and you told me how much you like the stars and from your bed you should be able to see them when you look up." He smiles and I smile back. The wall just above his bed slants across slowly as the roof above dips down so when you're led in bed it's like you're led under the stars and if it is raining you can see the rain beating down on the window. I made damn sure that I made this room perfectly. "I know it's not much but-" I start but he cuts me off.

"Katniss, this is better than I could have imagined. Now what do you say we get back downstairs and enjoy the party, our drinks are still down there." I smile and he grabs my hand, leading me out the door and back the way we came. I can't think about that though, all I can think about is the feeling of his hand in mine. His rough, callous hand in my rough, callous hand. Baking and Hunting really doesn't do anything good for your skin. Either way, his big hand enclosed around my small one, feels amazing and brings back them stupid butterflies that I felt when he was chasing me earlier. I can feel my hand begin to sweat and I try to stop it because Peeta would probably let go in disgust if he felt it. Oh god, I do not want that to happen. What is happening to me. Katniss Everdeen, doesn't want to let go of someone's hand, what is wrong with me? I've always been open to stuff like this but if I'm being honest, I never really saw it in my future.

Before I know it, we are downstairs and Peeta is letting go of my hand to hand me my drink, I automatically miss the presence of his hand in mine. "To you, the best house designer in 12." He clicks his bottle against mine and we both drink to 'me' apparently. Which gives me an idea. I'm gonna make a toast to the Mellarks. "I've got to do something, one minute." I say to Peeta and I find the nearest chair and stand up on it, calling everyone to attention, someone cuts the music coming from Dad's radio, which he donated to the Bakery to help work days go faster, and they all look at me, Peeta standing next to me, making sure that I don't fall.

"I'd like to say a few words even though i've never been good with words, if that's okay, I'd just like to say that a couple of months ago, I was inside this house looking for a family that have always meant something to me and my family. Every minute I spent searching for them, hurt more and more because I kept thinking that I was going to lose them. But I didn't and here they are, all of them, minus one who is still healing next door. I want to thank Kol and my Father, Ash, for helping me find them when everyone else had given up. I want to thank my Mother, Poppy and Prim for saving me and The Mellarks. I also want to thank everyone that made today possible. Everyone that help rebuild the Bakery." I raise my glass and everyone follows, taking a drink of whatever they have in their hands. "Plus, I just wanted to say a massive Happy Birthday to the one and only Gale Hawthorne. Shallwealldoittheproperway?" He starts to shake his head but I start to crowd off anyway. His face is priceless. He looks like he is going to kill me, I'm definitely going to pay for this later. I sang it to him last year in the woods and he started chasing me through the woods until I stopped.

When the song finishes, I step off the chair and the music starts again, Gale is still glaring at me through the crowd and I start to walk towards him. "So, how did you like it?" I ask him.

"It was torture, I hated it." He scowls but then his face lightens up and he pulls me to him, kissing me on the head. "But thank you." Then he pulls away and glances at something over my head. I hand him his present off the table with the food on and he smiles, promising to open it later.

"Katniss?" I hear behind me, Gale is glaring at something and I have a feeling that it's the person behind me. I turn around to find Peeta. What the hell does Gale have against Peeta. Maybe I can talk to him about it, but not here, I'll talk to him in the woods. "My Father wanted to talk to you, if you're not busy?" Peeta says and I nod, turning back to Gale.

"I'll catch up with you soon." He leaves to talk to Delly, I think he is heading that way anyway. I however, follow Peeta to the sitting room where Masan is sitting with Rye. "Why aren't you joining the party?" I ask them, taking a seat across from Rye. Peeta sits down next to me and I can feel Rye's eyes on us.

"Oh, just having a sit down, Rye just came in here now. Said he was annoyed with all the constant conversations." Masan laughs and Rye nods. "Anyway, I wanted to say how thankful I am for the speech, you will forever be considered a member of our family, I don't care what Dawn says, you are welcome here anytime you want, you just come on by and walk in. There will always be food for you or something to drink." He says and I smile.

"Thank you. And not that you would but you're welcome to my house too, any of you. But you always have been I guess." Masan nods with a smile. Rye is still looking at us thoughwhich is making me slightly uncomfortable.

He sits forward and I'm almost automatically, feeling awkward. "I just wanted to ask something... What is going on between you two?" He asks and I stifle a laugh. "I mean, you are obviously really close and after what happened today on the way back, I have a hard time believing that nothing happened. We have no idea what you got up to on all those nights in your room." By now I've finished my drink.

Peeta is the one that speaks up first before I even get a chance to. He has a little irritation in his voice but he is keeping his cool which I'm glad about. Peeta has always had a bit of his mother in him, I knew that when we where younger, he hates it, I know he does but I guess it's something you can't help. "Firstly, me and Katniss are just friends, secondly we were messing about in the Snow this morning, she wouldn't tell me something and I needed to get it out of her somehow and thirdly, all we did in that room was sleep. The fact that you would assume something like that proves that you don't know me at all." Rye just carries on laughing. You can tell he enjoys annoying his younger brother.

"Come on Peeta, lets just go and get another drink." I say to him, sensing that it's a good idea to get him out the room before Rye says anything else. I glare at Rye as I'm pushing Peeta out the room and his laughing ceases.

We grab the same drinks that we had before and he turns to me, slightly calmer than he was before. "Sorry about my brother he's very nosy." He says. I laugh at him which sort of makes him lighten up.

"Its fine, I think he was just being curious. I don't think what happened today helped at all." I say which causes him to laugh.

"Yeh fair enough, do you wanna dance." He asks, placing his bottle down on the table with mine and leading me into the middle of the room. Nobody is dancing yet, so it's just me and Peeta spinning in the middle which probably looks pretty funny. Honestly though, I don't really care. Wow, this alcohol is really getting to my head fast. How does Haymitch do this all the time. Kol and Poppy have had their spells too. Poppy drank for a lot longer though, when Kol went into the Games she was apparently drunk most of the time. She spent most of her time at Haymitch's house drinking his alcohol supply, that is until she got pregnant.

By the end of the night me and Peeta have drunk about 7 Strawberry and Mango Ciders and we can't seem to stand up straight but we carry on dancing anyway. At one point, I fell over and Peeta tried to get up but he fell on top of me. Plus I think I said something to him that I know I'm going to regret in the morning. Hopefully I won't remember it though. I think I told him that I don't want to lose him because he is the 'greatest person I've ever met'. Oh god.

By 9pm everyone has gone home and Mum, Dad, Kol and Prim are about to leave. Wait, why are they leaving without me? Am I really that drunk?

"Waitwhereareyougoingwaitforme!" I say probably too quickly to hear.

"I don't think you are in any fit state to go home Katniss, is it ok if she stays here Masan?" My Mother asks him but I want to go home, why isn't she letting me go home, I don't want to stay here, I don't know where here is.

"Yeh it's fine we will put her in Peeta's room." Masan replies. I can't feel my feet. Is this supposed to happen? I feel like I'm walking on a cloud.

"But I want to go home" I say collapsing on Rye. He almost falls backwards but keeps me steady anyway which I'm glad about because I can feel myself going to sleep already.

"No, you stay here." My Mother says before talking to Masan again.

"Fine" I say trying to get up off Rye but it doesn't work. He tightens his grip on me and pulls me up so that I'm no longer falling.

"Rye do you think you could take her upstairs and put her in Peeta's room and ill get Peeta." I hear Leaven say before I feel myself lifted up off the ground and the bottle in my hand slips and drops to the floor. That's when I start to lose consciousness. "Rye, keep an eye on her and Peeta will you, I don't want them to do anything, they are too drunk." I hear My Mother say as Rye stops and my head flops against his shoulder. I can smell soap. It's nice soap.

"I honestly think they are too drunk to even move Evelyn, I don't think we have anything to worry about." Masan says and I feel Rye's laugh rumble through his chest, it kind of tickles my cheek. He starts walking again, still laughing. I love this. The feeling of being carried. I have just enough strength left to lift my hand up and link them around Rye's shoulders. He pulls me up again, I guess I made it easier to carry me. Good. I can smell something on his neck, deodorant maybe? Its nice.

Rye takes me upstairs and lays my on something comfortable, a bed I'm guessing. I feel him slide my shoes off my feet and pull off the cardigan that I'm wearing before helping me to the other side of the bed, tucking me in. It feel really roomy. That is until someone else climbs in next to me and it becomes quite small. I drift off to sleep easily anyway.


	4. 4!

4.

After that, life pretty much goes back to normal. We all go back to school, which is the same, except for the fact that I now have more friends to talk to and I now have to leave lessons more often than before due to my headaches. People are still looking at me now too, with what I did, I don't think people will ever stop talking and nothing much like that happens in this District. For the first week, My Mother has either Dad or Kol walk me to school.

She seems to think that I'm just gonna collapse or something on my way in. I mean I could if I decided to run or something.

Dawn made a full recovery eventually and went back to work at the bakery. I had made it a daily thing to go over and see them. Normally on my way home from school or on my way there in the morning. Prim likes to go in the morning to get a cookie or something. Eventually though, I went less and less. Just like it had happened before, Me and Peeta grew apart slowly. We still talk now but now that we are back at school I can feel him slipping just like before. He spends less time with me and more time with his other friends. So I go back to spending time with Madge.

It's fine though, I still have Prim and Gale. Rye comes over to talk to me sometimes too which is nice.

Poppy still hadn't told me or anyone about the pregnancy. I'm the only one that actually knows that she is pregnant. Mother is back working at the Apothecary so it's a bit impossible for Poppy to hide it anymore. Especially when Mother sees many pregnant women, she is bound to notice eventually. Poppy has asked me over to hers tonight though so maybe tonight is the time for truth. Mum says she is gonna look after Willow for me so that I can finally get the truth.

It's been a month now since the party at the Bakery and it's looking like Peeta Mellark and my infatuation with him are all but gone from my life and it's almost normal again. I'm still not allowed in the woods by Mum's orders. It's a good thing we don't need that meat to survive. Dad gave up the woods years ago so we don't have any fresh meat at the moment. Just meat from the Butchers.

I wake up at 4 in the morning to the sound of Prims cat, Buttercup meowing at the end of the bed. Prim climbed in my bed about midnight and wherever she goes, Buttercup follows. I tried to shut the door on him but Prim opened it again. She can't go anywhere without him. He's such a fat little thing just sponging off everyone at meal times. Whilst the Mellarks where here we had to keep him locked upstairs, Prim spent most of her time with him up there. The Mellarks where way too nice to him, he ended up having more of their food than they did.

I climb out of bed, leaving Prim there and allowing the cat to jump up to her. I know otherwise he's just going to do it when I leave. I quickly glance into the crib at the end of my bed to find little Willow still fast asleep, I'm sure she will wake Prim up later and they will both meet me downstairs when they're ready. Pulling on my robe, I shut my bedroom door and walk down the stairs. The house is so quiet at this time. I used to get up this early when I went to the woods before school with Dad when I was a kid, I haven't done it in a while. I'll normally go into the woods at the end of the day before it got dark.

In the kitchen I find Dad. He's still used to getting up at this time. "Hey Darling, you're up early?" He says, pouring his brew. On the TV in the kitchen is a weird show that they play in the Capitol. I have never been able to figure out how we get the signal all the way out here. He pulls out another cup for me. My favourite cup, coloured dark green just like the woods. On it says, My Girl. Dad got it me for my 15th Birthday about 7 months ago.

Taking a seat at the little kitchen table where dad's book is, I yawn before replying. "Yeh Prim came into my room tonight and her stupid cat woke me up about 10 minutes ago."

He laughs slightly with his back turned to me. "Come on Kat, be nice, Buttercup makes her happy."

I lay my head down on the table, staring out the kitchen door and towards the front of the house, I can just about make out Poppy's house just across the Victor's Village square. "Can't she find happiness in a fish or something smaller and less annoying." He laughs at me again and hands me my coffee. I stare down at it. I remember it took Dad a while to find the right kind of Coffee to order from the Capitol. Some people do make it in 12 but it has nothing on this one. It's got a certain Caramely taste to it. Most people I know just drink tea, that is except from me and Poppy.

"What you up to today?" Dad asks me as he sits across from me, forgetting about his book that I've moved to the chair to my right. "Anything good?"

"Just school. Then Poppy has invited me round to hers for tea tonight." I say to him. His face changes to a sad one. He misses her.

He looks down at his tea, "let her know to come and see us okay?" I nod at him. I know he worries about her, the last time she shut herself away like this was when she won the games. Dad obviously understand having been in them himself but he's probably thinking all sorts of things now.

2 hours later I'm ready and sat with Mum in the sitting room. The tables have been gone for a while now and part of me misses them being there. At Least I got to spend time with The Mellarks then. Granted they were on the tables but they were here. I'll have to go and see them some time.

Breakfast is a silent affair. We all just kind of eat and say nothing. Prim is very happily feeding my Little Willow and Buttercup is happily picking up scraps off the floor. Like normal it's just us 5 at the table. Kol normally sleeps in and Poppy once again hasn't left her house. I can see in my Mum's eyes that she worried about her. I'll have to tell her when I see her later. Maybe she will actually see them if I ask her to."Come on girls you need to get to school."

By the time I'm ready to go to school, Mum has Willow and Primrose ready and Kol has finally appeared at the front door asking for some breakfast which Mum (of course) leads him to the kitchen and makes him something. That just leaves Dad to walk us to school.

The walk to school is quiet. I mostly just walk with Prim's arm linked in mine whilst we play a game as old as me. Basically the aim of the game is to catch the others foot and see if you can stay up when the other falls. Dad hates it when we play it but it doesn't really stop us. That is until Dad links his arm with my free one and puts his foot out without me realising, me and Prim tumble to the floor with my dad standing over us, victorious. He was always better at this game than everyone else.

"Hey, no fair!" Prim shouts in his direction as he helps her and then me off the floor, "Youre too big for this game!" If looks could kill.

Dad laughs and then pushes us on towards school. "You two go from here, I need to go see Masan, love you." Then he's gone.

It's not long before we end up in the buzz of school and Primrose is gone, leaving me alone. As I always do, I put my head down and walk forward, ignoring everything around me. As I do every day, I wish that the door to school was a lot closer to the gate.

"Katniss?" I hear someone say as I pass my usual break spot, a little bench under a tree. "Wait!" The voice says again, stopping me.

I turn to find Peeta standing there. "You okay?" He asks me, a smile on his face. "Haven't really talked in a bit."

"I'm alright, how's your shoulder and chest?" I ask him, I hate small talk. "Must be getting better now?"

He nods, glancing at his shoulder, "A lot better. Coach still won't let me back into wrestling but that will come with time, I guess. Your Mum wants me to go round to yours for a checkup later, Leaven too. Rye is busy tonight so he is going tomorrow."

I smile slightly at the thought of him being at mine tonight but then I drop the smile as soon as I realise, "I might not see you, I'm going over to Poppy's tonight but I'll try get back early enough to see you." He smiles again. "Okay I've got to go." I say quickly and before he has chance to reply I disappear into the school and head for my first class.

I stand there for a second thinking about how he actually is inside, wondering if he misses me as much as I have missed him all this time. I guess he doesnt considering tonight is the first time he will coming to mine since. As I start to walk away I catch my foot on a big patch of black ice. I hit the floor hard but luckily I land on my backside. I'm a pretty clumsy person normally but since I did the injury to my head in The Bakery and then made it worse with falling down the stairs, I've become clumsier so I have to protect my head everytime I fall which is a lot. Prim is at my side in seconds, "You okay?" She asks. She helps me up as I nod. By now the yard is empty, everyone has gone to class.

Prim helps me all the way to my class and through the door even though I told her not too because I knew what would happen and I was right. Amolst automatically Peeta is out of his seat but not moving. "Miss Everdeen where have you been?" The Teacher asks.

"Sorry, I feel in the yard on some ice." I nudge Prim to leave which she does, waving goobye. I cant help but think how much this whole situation has made her grow up so much. She's not a little girl anymore. "I'm okay though, just landed on my backside." I say it quietly enough so that no-one hears it but I know Peeta is listening as he sits back down in his seat. I know that The teachers know what is wrong with me as My Mother rang the school and told them about all of our injuries.

The Teacher just nods and motions for me to go take my seat. I walk, trying not to make myself look like I'm in pain and force myself into my seat. I half expect Peeta to come over to see how I actually am but he stays seated. My mind wanders to him again. I dont understand it, I have never felt like this about someone. I remember a dream I had a couple nights ago about something that happened with my prents. It was just your average everyday kind of thing. My Mother was washing dishes after Dinner and My Father went up behind her and hugged her, which then turned into a towel fight and a water fight which eventually ended up involving all of us. The difference in my dream was it wasnt Mother and father, it was Me washing up after Dinner and Peeta that came up behind us in his smock and Flour covered hands. we were in the Bakery and half through the towel fight a girl who looked about 10 and surprisingly like Willow joined us and then a small blonde haired Toddler boy clung on to Peeta's leg. I woke up crying the next day.

"Katniss?" Someone says, brnging me out of my daydream and when I turn I feel I'm still in the dream, there he is, smiling down at me, his hand on the desk while he leans over and uses his other hand to wipe the tear that strayed down my right cheek. I didnt even notice I was crying. "You okay?" He has his book bag slung over his shoulder and has already tidied away mine that to be honest I didnt even realise I had got out in the first place.

"Err..." Comes from my mouth which makes him laugh a bit, "Yeh, sorry I was in my own world." I say finally coming back into reality. He laughs again and we walk to our next lesson.

For the rest of the day he pretty much stays away from me. I'm not sure wether he means to but none the less I still leave school feeling a little dissapointed that I never got to talk to him properly. Not that I would know what to say to him. Its not like I could tell him about my feelings now when its been ages since I felt like that, or atleast thats what I tell myself.

I pick up Prim from our usual meeting place and we set off walking home, we end up walking behind Peeta and his friends that I cant help be happy about it. "So we up for tonight guys?" I hear River Alvarez say to the others. A few of them agree. Peeta and Delly Cartwrightare whispering to eachother and both of them glance my way almost at the same time. They're talking about me. Did he tell her about what happened at our house and what happened at the party? About us? "Peeta? Delly?" I hear River say, They both look at him and Delly looks at Peeta as if waiting to hear his answer.

"I cant, I'm working at The Bakery tonight." He says, I know thats a lie though because he has already told me that he is at my house tonight, I wonder why he lied to his friends. "Delly is working tonight too I think." His friends just nod and they carry on.

I take that as my que to leave so I grab Prims hand and walk a little faster, eventualy passing them. "Think you've upset Everdeen, Peeta." One of his friends jokes.

Just at the wrong time Primrose asks if e can go to the Bakery because Father gave her some money for fter school to buy something sweet. I cant help but agree because to be fair if I didnt, Peetas friends would overhear and definitely think the worst. bWe walk abit faster and eventually they are out of earshot. Its not long before we are at The Bakery, I mad sure on the way here that she knew to be quick. I dont want to still be here when Peeta returns. Prim goes to the counter to pick a cookie. "How are you two lovely young women today?" Leaven asks. Prims smile shines down the room, she loves the attention. "Which one would you like?" He obviously notices her looking at the cookies.

A couple of minutes later, Peeta walks through the back and isnt urprised to see me there. "Katniss I'm glad you're here, listen I'm sorry about River, he seems to think I have a thing for you." He laughs nervously. I notice Prim has her cookie and I dont say anything to Peeta, I just leave The Bakery.

3 hours later, I'm at Poppy's house with a hot chocolate in my hands. Her belly is big now. After all she will be about 4 and a half monts pregnant now. I remember when I looked like that. She thinks she is anyway,here in District 12 its a guessing game. Mother has taught her everything she needs to know though so her guess is probably right, I guess it depends on how many times she had sex with the Father. If it was once she will know exactly how far along she is.

Luckily she has all night to tell me becaue as soon as I got here I rang Mother and told her I'll be staying here overnight, Its alright Mother agreed to look after Willow."So are you gonna tell me the truth?" I ask her and she takes a breathe. "Its alright take your time." I know it can be hard explaning, I couldnt imagine if the same thing that happened to me also happened to her.

She places her brew down on the little kitchen table. "Well I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, the baby is Haymitch's." I feel my mouth hang open. Haymitch is a year younger than Father. "I know what youre thinking just let me explain. It only happened once, when I got back from the Capitol I went over to Haymitchs house with Kol, you know how we all have the Victors Dinner every now and then just to catch up I guess." I nod. "Well Kol had to leave early and I decided to stay for anther drink. It wsnt long before something happened and it just happened. We both regretted it in the morning but it happened multiple times that night but it never happened again and abut 3 weeks later I found out I was pregnant."

I still have My mouth hanging open when she finishes. Silence take over the room for a bit before he clears her throat. "Haymitch? Does he know?" I ask, My voice coming back.

"No I cant figure out how to tell him. This is Haymitch we're talking about." She laughs slightly but I cant bring myself to laugh along with her. I just cant believe this.

"You know you have to tell everyone? Mum and Dad are going mad not knowing whats wrong with you. You dont even have to tell them about the Father? They just miss you." I say to her.

She stands up, looking awkward."You know what I think I'm gonna go to bed." she pours the rest of her hot chocolate down the sink "Help yourself to any of the other rooms." Then shes gone


	5. 5!

**This chapter is DEFINITELY rated M...****Its a very risky chapter, I thought I should probably explore the sexual tension between our favourite couple. I do hope you like it.**

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5.

_"Katniss, I dont even know how to begin. You're my one, my only, my forever. I couldn't imagine any kind of life without you. I will give you anything you ever want. However the first thing I would like you to take from me is my last name, Katniss Everdeen would you do me the honour of becoming my bride and being mine Forever." He's knelt on the floor. Its a really old tradition, people dont really do it anymore. Especially because people can never afford the ring. He's holding it out in a box, the little silver ring with a small green gem right in the middle of the top of it. Its so beautiful and probably cost him so much but I cant help but accept.__I take a mental picture of his smile and eyes filled with Hope. "Peeta Mellark, I would nothing more than for us to be together forever. I would love to be your wife." HIs smile widens and mine widens and suddenly it feels like I'm in a film. He picks me up and spins me round, the ring momentarily being forgotten.__He places me back down on the floor and kneels back down again taking my hand in his, "I love you with all my heart Katniss Everdeen." I send him the biggest smile I've probably ever held and he slides the perfect ring onto my finger, kissing my hand with so much love, my heart swells if it was even possible for it to swell even more.__I admire the ring for a second, before taking his face in my hands and pulling him up towards me, lightly pressing my lips to his. "I love you so much." He replies with the same and kisses me again. I feel it in my stomach, hunger. I let out a little breathe as his hand slides round my back and rests where my back curves, pulling me closer to him. This is so different to any kiss we have ever shared before, I know it is. I want him, something I've definitely experienced but never really been able to act on as we both agreed to wait until we where atleast promised to eachother.__He must be able to read my mind because his hands slidedown from my back, catching my legs and in one quick movement, has me wrapped around him as he walks towards the stairs, not taking his lips off mine the whole time. I hear a lamp fall off a table and hit the floor but neither of us even glance that way.__Once he gets us to the bedroom, he doesn't even hesitate before pulling his shirt over his head, with me still wrapped around him. He places me as lightly as possible on the large bed and takes my singular braid in his hand, pulling the hair tie out of the end of it and pulling it apart until its cascading down my chest, he looks at me in awe and I smile. Thats when I take my chance to take off my top. He's never seen me naked and as soon as my shirt disappears across the room, his eyes are saving every single bit of my body to his memory. He looks up at me asking for permission which I smile at and he pulls down my pants, taking my underwear and socks with it. I'm completely naked now, I thought I would feel more like I'd have to cover up, but this feels right.__Peeta all but faints at the sight of me naked and to be fair, he removes his pants and boxers, he doesn't come back towards my face though as I was hoping he would. I catch sight of his penis and my breathe quickens again. I know he has had sex before he met me, he had a few girlfriends before me and I suppose its a little scary to think he knows what he's doing. He's looking at me again, asking for permission even though he doesn't really wait for it. I'm confused for a second as I thought we where gonna have sex and he's still down at my legs, thats when I realise what he's doing. His tongue enters me, I feel the goosebumps rise all over my body, even in places I didn't even know that could happen. Guess I'm less experienced than I originally thought.__He pulls away for a second and I open my eyes, looking at him, he's laughing at me and I know why. I just made probably the loudest noise I've ever made. I laugh too but before I can even open my mouth to say sorry, he has entered his finger. I cant tell which one has felt better. He's moving back and forth now, I open my eyes momentarily to see his mouth going for it again. Now I think its my time to faint.__My head starts to go fuzzy and involuntarily my legs start shaking and my hand finds his hair in a fist, willing him to stay put. 2 fingers now. A strange feeling comes to my stomach, one I've never felt before and I cant help but arch my back and grab the bed for stability.__He keeps going, faster and faster, My grip on him has probably gone painful now but he keeps going. I'm close, close to something I've never felt before and within seconds of his head moving away and his fingers going faster, his thumb also doing what his tongue was doing, I feel my body release. Like all the breathe leaves my body, all thoughts leave my head and everything that I ever felt just goes away.__He doesn't give me much time to calm myself down though, as my mind is still fuzzy and I still feel like I'm gonna explode with pleasure he comes up and kisses my neck,sending shivers through my body. He takes both my hands in his, looking down with that look of love again and forces himself inside me.__Thats when everything changes, his face morphs and he becomes my rapist and I'm 12 again. I try to push him off but he just begins to laugh, forcing himself in and out. All pleasure has gone from my body. His right hand lets go off mine and his hand finds my throat._

I wake with a start, my hand on my throat. That was the worst dream I've had so far, to think Peeta would be anything like that rapist. I glance at the end of the bed to find out if I woke up Willow but she's not there. Thats right I stayed at Poppy's. Then I remember everything that happened last night. Haymitch is the father of Poppy's baby. She's gonna keep it, she doesn't know how to tell Mum and Dad. What am I supposed to do? I cant force her to tell them, she has to do it on her own. She cant hide this forever. Mum and Dad would realise something was wrong when she never comes home.

Angry, I throw the covers off me and pull myself out of the large bed. I find my clothes on the chair across the room where I left them last night and pull them on before I go downstairs, I need to talk to her. When I get downstairs though, I find a note that says she's gone out and to lock the door when I leave. Annoyed I write my own little note underneath. "Tell Mum and Dad soon or I will. They need to know, you're breaking their hearts." Then I leave and within minutes I'm across the road in our own house.

I can hear people talking in the kitchen and when I shut the door someone shouts my name but I just run straight for the stairs not knowing what to say to any of them, I cant lie to them anymore. I spin left and open my door, shutting it quickly and locking it so they dont follow me. I hear someone say my name behind me and I freeze, last time I heard that voice say my name was in my dream and suddenly I'm brought back to it, getting that feeling in my stomach again.

I turn towards him quickly and the breathe leaves my body, he is standing there covering himself with a towel. "Peeta, I'm so sorry!" I say and go to unlock the door so I can leave. My face is probably redder than a tomato at the moment.

I hear him laugh, he's behind me now, stopping my hand from opening the door. "I'm sorry Katniss." I turn again and he has covered himself with a towel, not that its stopping my heart racing fast. Is this still the dream? "You're Mother let me stay here last night as it got really late and your beds the most comfortable." He laughs. "I'm going now, dont worry."

His face is right infront of mine and knowing full well it probably isn't the dream, I tell myself over and over again in my head to stop thinking. I think I'm still a bit fuzzy from the dream though and with that, I slide my hand round the back of his head, pulling him in for a kiss. It feels so much better than it did in the dream and I forget everything. He pulls away from me. "Katniss what are you doing?" I'm suddenly brought back to reality. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"I cant help it, I do it again.

It takes him a second but he finally falls into the kiss. All the worry I've had over the past few months about wether he likes me or not goes away. He must have had a shower because his body is wet along with his hair but I dont really care, I mould into him and now both my arms are around his back.

He pulls at my shirt and I raise my arms allowing him to take it off. His lips find mine again and my hand slide down his back, finding his towel which has gone really tight now, I can feel the reason against my hip as he kisses my neck. The goosebumps begin from the spot my hand is touching his skin and spread all up his back and up his neck which I land a small kiss on. His towel is way too tight now and ends up falling off, leaving him completely naked but neither of us seem to care.

My hands find my belt and I begin taking it off but he stops me. "Katniss?" He's shaking his head, I know he is worried I dont want to and I know he's been with people before but I really want him now, maybe its because of what happened in my dream but I cant help myself.

Once my pants are gone he tries to stay away from me, probably thinking that it isn't a good idea but I can see the look in his face, he wants this,he mumbles something under his breath whilst looking at me and gives up staying away from me, hetakes my legs, pulling me up and I wrap myself around him, I think he is about to take me to the bed but he just pins me against the wall and pulls away from our passionate kiss, my insides are burning for him now. "You sure?" He asks and I nod, pulling him back into me. His hand finds my entrance and he puts a finger inside me, thats when the dream comes back to me, I pull away from his face and I dont see him just like in my dream, I push him away and he trips slightly, hitting the floor.

He's up almost instantly, coming back over to me with my jacket thats on the floor and covering me up. "Are you okay? I"m sorry, none of that should have happened, I just got carried away, please tell me you're okay?" He mumbles on and I put my hand up to stop him.

"I think you should go." I say, another headache coming on. "I'm sorry Peeta, that really shouldn't have happened. You need to go." He doesn't move.

"I'm not going anywhere, we need to talk about this Katniss. How about we go for a walk?" He asks, politely as if I didn't basically force myself on him like some little Townie Tramp that are obsessed with The Mellark's because of their looks.

I pull myself up, pulling my clothes back on and straightening my hair. "Peeta, I'm really sorry about that. I shouldn't have forced myself on you. I guess I just couldn't help myself. I thought I was in a dream, just like every other time..." I know I've said a wrong thing as soon as it leaves my mouth.

There comes a minute of silence before he speaks and when he does, a smile takes over his face. "Dreams?" I try to walk away from him but he stops me. "Katniss, I dream about you too. I've dreamed about you for years."

Sadness takes over, "Peeta, this cant happen, you know it cant. Too much has happened in my life to be with you. You deserve someone so much better than me. Goodbye." Then I take my chance and leave. Out the front door and into the woods where I feel like I can get away.

Its not like I dont want it or him because believe me I do. I couldn't think of anything more perfect but we wouldn't work. Not only has a lot of stuff happened to me in my life, he's been there for all of it. He's a constant reminder of everything that has happened to me. Yes he also makes me feel better but If today and my dream last night has taught me anything, we wouldn't be able to do anything other than kiss and nobody, especially Peeta wants a relationship like that.

I already knew he had been with other girls. I'm not sure how many but The Mellark's are basically royalty in this District, every girl at school fancies them. The rumours are that Rye has basically slept with everyone within his age range and that Peeta isn't far behind him. Now I dont believe he's been with loads of people but He's definitely been with other people. I know he was dating Gina Stratser from the Clothes shop a few doors down from him and they where together for almost a year.

I just wish that I never shut him out after I was raped and maybe he could have helped me through it, he has been trying but the damage has already been done, I dont think there could ever be a future for me and anyone let alone Peeta Mellark...


	6. 6!

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, pleas leave a review, let me know what you think 3**

**~S~**

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By the time January comes along, Me and Peeta arent speaking anymore. Too much has happened to us now I guess. I'd hoped that we could remain friends but I guess not. I'd started hanging around with Gale again, some of the time anyway, whilst I was spending a lot of my time with Peeta, Gale started dating Delly Cartwright, Peeta's best friend. I was happy to hear about it. He'd never really had a proper girlfriend, not that I know about anyway.

As I think about Gale and Delly, I think more about Peeta. I've seen him at school but other than him quickly saying hi to me in the hallways, we have hardly spoke to eachother since what happened. Its probably for the best. Since last time I saw him, I'm too embarrased to talk to him anyway. What would I even say after I threw myself at him like that?

I just finished the day of school. Primrose left with her friends which leaves me alone to walk by myself. I bundle myself in my jacket and start walking. Every bit of floor is covered with ice. We had a lot of snow over the past couple of weeks and last night it rained all night which means, there is ice everywhere, which is not good for me at all.

It takes me a lot longer than expected to get to The Town Square. Its quiet, I'm not surprised really, nobody likes coming out when its this cold and all the kids from school would have got home a long time ago. I cant help but glance into The Bakery as I walk past, normally I see Lev or Rye looking back at me with a smile on their face but this time its Peeta. He is sat there laughing at something, he looks so happy. I cant believe I ever made him look anything other than the way he looks now. Everything seems to go in slow motion. He looks up at me and stops laughing. As he turns his soft blonde curls catch the wind when someone goes in the shop and I do believe he has never looked so handsome as the light hits him. His eyes are looking straight through me as if I'm not even there, then they flicker away and I use it as an opportunity to look away, thats when I walk into something.

My foot slips on the ice and I fall. I go to apologise to whoever I just ran into but they're looking down at me with such hatred in their face that I freeze. I scramble away and pull myself up. Infront of me is Gina Stratser, Lavender Oakley and Gina's 2 brothers, I cant remember their names. I dont like the way this looks though. "Watch where you're going Everdeen." Gina says.

"Sorry." I mumble and try to walk round but she stops me and pushes me back into a bench, one of a few that are scattered around the Town Square except on Reaping Day. "What can I help you with?" I ask in the politest voice I can get, pulling myself up from the bench.

Gina laughs slightly. "Like you dont know..." She hisses and I just shrug my shoulders, I've got no idea what she wants. Now theyre all laughing at me. "Its not enough for you to have sex with MY Boyfriend butas of this morning, I found out you also got My Father killed." Now I'm confused.

"Firstly, I dont even know who your boyfriend is and Secondly, why would I have got your Father killed, I've never met him either." I say, standing there infront of these 4 people.

Gina takes a step forwards and one of her brothers who I think is the oldest follows her, "Peeta Mellark, I know you slept with him, he told Delly, who told Lavender." Lavender nods.

I put my hand up to stop her before she carries on. "I did not sleep with him." My anger is definitely rising now. "He lied if he said that, which I doubt he did." She's laughing again. I might not be friends with Peeta at the moment but I would still trust him with keeping what happened a secret.

Her eyes turn Evil and she takes a step forward, pointing her finger in my face."I dont believe you, after what you did to My Father." She's right infront of my now, not laughing anymore, just angry. "And this is for him." Her hand collides with the side of my face.

I let out a cry of pain and look up at her holding my face. "I dont even know your dad." I say loudly.

She laughs slightly."I only just put the pieces together myself actually. That little girl in your family who everyone believes is your Mothers Daughter, Well according to Delly she is your Daughter, now my first thought was Peeta being the Father, he just didnt tell me. But then I realised that He would never have done that with someone like you. Then she said something that made me think. Apparently you where Raped and thats where she came from. It was probably about 2weeks after you would have been Raped that My Father went missing. A week after that, someone found him dead on an alley in The Seam. He had been beaten to death." Realisation hits in then, Mr Stratser was the one that raped me. "Which would make your Daughter, My Sister. And also means that youre probably responsible for My Fathers death so I'm gonna make sure that little girl grows up with no parents."

I'm about to say something more to her but her hand collides with my face again, this time in a fist, causing me to fall back again and hit the floor this time. She only gives me a few more punches after that, each one in the same spot and each more painful as the one before. Then her brother steps forward and egged on by his companions, kicks me as hard as he can in the stomach. Another sharp blow to my stomach and My Brain feels like its shutting down. The other brother brings his large foot down and slams it staight into my ankle.

Then I hear a voice. "Whats going on here?" Its a woman. They stop for a second and then I feel another sharp blow, this time to my neck, cutting off all the breath I had in my body. Next thing I know, the bigger brother has me by the neck, hes trying to kill me. I can see some woman behind him, hitting him in the back, shouting for help but its not working. Then suddenly he looks up and as he does, someone flies over the bench. The brother gets slammed backwards, taking me with him like a rag doll. My ankle snaps fromthe impact and he doesnt let go of my neck. I close my eyes and just wish it to be over. He somehow gets the person who tackled him ,off and stands up, taking me with him, his hands still round my neck.

Thats when someone hits him from behind with something that sounded hard and he lets me go. I fall to the floor, not caring where I land and I feel someone grab my head before it hits the floor.

Its dark, very dark. Have I been out all day? I try to look around but I cant move my head. I'm definitely in my room though. The bed definitely feel like mine and infron of me is the chair that My Father bought for my 8th Birthday and in it is the very person I've been trying to stay away from. Peeta Mellark. He's asleep, fully clothes, even his shoes. I cant really see him in the dark but I can imagine what he looks like. Suddenly he jolts in his sleep and jumps, shouting my name. He must have been having a nightmare. His eyes rest on me in a panic. "Katniss? You're awake?" I try to say something back but I cant. He walks over and as he comes up to me I can see his broken nose, bruises spreading outacross his whole face. I go to reach out for it but cant really move. "Oh, no dont worry about me. Courtesy of Miles Stratser. I was trying to get Hillton off you and when I wasnt looking Miles hit me in the face. It doesnt hurt that much though." He smiles and strokes my face slightly. "I'll go get your mum." He turns but turns back. "Oh and Katniss. I'm so sorry about last time. I thought I lost you today and I never got the chance to apologise and make things right. I'm completely fine with us just being friends, I just want you in my life again, I miss you." I smile and he smiles back. I would like nothing more.

A few minutes later he's back with My Mother who tells him to go get me some water which he does almost instantly. When he comes back Mum makes me drink atleast half the water in the glass. As she helps me up, I realise just how much pain I'm in. My head feels like its about to explode and I can just about move my toes on my left leg. "Be careful Katniss, You've broken your knee and your ankle on your left leg and a lot of damage has been done your neckand they also broke your nose but not as bad as Peeta." She laughs slightly. Thats when I hear My Father at the door but he stays silent because he knows better when My Mother is working. I smile at him but he doesnt smile back, just looks at the floor, a look of sadness on his face.

A couple hours later, I'm sitting downstairs having breakfast with everyone. Dad had to carry me downstairs, which caused a lot of pain and seemed to take so long that we all said afterwards that there wasnt much point and someone could have just sat upstairs with me to keep me company. Not I'm eating really slowly as the injuries to my neck wont allow me to swallow properly. I'm on soup whilst everyone else has sausages and eggs.

I look up from my soup to see My Dad, sitting there watching his food. "You okay?" I choke out and he looks up at me.

"Kat, Darling. I'm so sorry." I cant help the confusion on my face. "This is all my fault." Everyone has stopped eating now and is looking at him. The only person that doesnt look confused is Mother. "I'm the one that killed him. I couldnt stand the fact that he got to live when you had to deal with something like that." He is crying now. I reach over Kol and take Dad's hand in mine. "I hated him for what he did to my little girl. I just wanted him to pay. I'm sorry, I didnt expect this to happen." He squeezes my hand and looks down, crying.

"Dad, its fine. Nobody would have expected this to happen." I get out but I cant say anything after that, my neck hurts too much so I just squeeze his hand back.

Thats when Peeta speaks up from across the table where he sits with Willow and Primrose. "Mr Everdeen, I would have done the same in your situation. I thought about it myself and I was 12. i competely understand. I'm sure everyone does." Dad smiles at him and I smile at him too. What I couldnt say, he said for me. Thats when the front door flies open.

A couple seconds later, Poppy's voice comes round the corner just before she appears herself, holding her large belly. "Poppy?" My Mother says in disbelief. I hear everyone around the room gasp as her belly is shown.

She looks at me, ignoring everyone."Kat, how are you? Someone in town just told me, are you okay?" I nod. "She said she witnessed it. Tried to get them off you. Apparently you looked dead afterwards, I feared it was true." I smile at her. She looks down at my neck, probably finally realising that I cant actually speak.

"Poppy?" My Mum says again and Poppy looks up in shock just realising that her belly is out. She goes to hide it but its too late now. "You're pregnant?" She asks.

"I only came round to see if Kat was alright. I dont want this to be about me." She says. Mum gives her a look though which usually means tell me the truth, now. "Okay fine, yes I am pregnant. I didnt know how to tell you after everything you went through when Katniss was pregnant. I know that was different but everyone found it hard and I just didnt want everyone to freak out I guess." Thats when my dad laughs. "Whats so funny?" Poppy seems annoyed now.

Dad laughs again. "We are so happy for you Poppy. We could never be upset that you're pregnant. We weren't upset when Kat was either, just upset about what happened. We love Willow so much and we are going to love your child too. Dont worry about it." I see them both smile.

She holds her belly."Its a girl." Poppy says. "I would need mums opinion but from what she has taught me I'm pretty sure I'm having a daughter and I'm gonna call her Rosie. Short for Rosalyn."

"Who's the Dad?" Primrose asks but Poppy just shakes her head.

"Its alright if you dont want to tell us yet love." Mother says and goes back to helping Willow not throw her food everywhere.

The next 3 weeks go by so slow. I dont have much to do. We do get Poppy back though, she come by every day to sit with me whilst Prim is at school and Kol is in bed as he normally stays up really late now and gets out of bed at like 2pm. Eventually Poppy starts to go back to work with Mother. She still comes by early in the morning but sometimes I'm not even awake when she's here. Peeta comes to see me every day but Prim and Kol are normally with me then so he just comes in and sits with me. I enjoy his company. Everytime I look at him though all I can think about is him in a towel. One of my towels, from my bathroom. Each of the bedrooms in this house have their own bedroom except from one which is the spare room. It used to be Prims but then Prim moved into Poppy's bedroom when she moved out.

Kol lives next door but more often than not just stays here so he stays in his old room which is surprisingly the smallest of them all. That one used to be mine but after I had Willow I was moved into the bigger room, swapping with Kol. He didnt mind though.

On the last day before I go back to school, I'm sat in the living room, reading a book in silence when Peeta walks in, looking scared. He sits next to me taking my legs off the sofa where they were and placing them over his legs. I place my book down onto the table thats been places next to me so I can rest my legs and he looks at me. "I've got something to tell you."

"Whats wrong?" He looks away from me. "It cant be that bad."

He takes a breath and looks at me again. "Soapparently someone at school found out that Willow is your daughter instead of your sister. I promise I didnt say anything and I talked to Delly too, she didnt say anything." Fear sets in. Its got to be Gina. "Thats not the worst part."

Please dont tell me they found out who the dad is. "What could be worse?" I ask him, scared about the answer.

"They think I'm her dad." He says, looking away again. "I know its stupid. I've been trying to tell people I'm not but no-one is listening." That, I was not expecting.

I find myself shocked but I cant stop thinking that it could be worse. "Peeta, It doesn't matter. To be honest I would rather they think that than the truth." My ears start burning as he looks at me. I should not have said that. "Thats not what I meant. I-"

He cuts me off. "Katniss, its fine. I get what you mean." He smiles. Tomorrow is going to be very fun.


	7. 7

7.

As soon as I wake up the next day, after my conversation with Peeta, I cant get back to sleep. Normally when I wake up and its still dark outside I'll try to get another half an hour in, especially until Willow wakes up as there is no way I'm going back to sleep after she is up. Whilst I was off school, Dad bought stuff for Willow to have her own room. The little one that used to be Prim's, however she never stays in it. They even got her a bed instead of using the little crib she's slept in for 2 years. Normally you wouldnt give a crib to a 2 year old but up until about 2 months ago, she wouldnt stay in bed so we had to keep her in a crib. She's learn to stay asleep now though. Not in her own room, she comes and climbs in my bed half way through the night. Her room is right across from mine so I just leave both doors open incase she needs me at anytime.

I look at her sleeping fram next to me and cant help but smile. She looks so much like me except her bright blue eyes. I dont blame people at school for thinking that she is Peeta's daughter. Her eyes are so much like his. It wouldnt be so bad if Peeta was her dad. I push the thought from my head, there is no way that Peeta would want to be her daughter now that he knows who her real dad is. Not at his age anyway. I wouldnt wish that on anyone, he's still got his whole life ahead of him.

I pull myself slowly out of bed so I dont wake her. Not that it works. "Mummy?" Her small voice makes my heart swell. I smile and turn to her. "Is it up time?" She asks.

"Yes, come on, I'll take you downstairs." She crawls over and jumps onto my laugh and I take her in my arms, carry her into the bathroom to get her bathed and ready. She's the only kid I know that loves having a bath, I wonder how long that will last. I lock the door and jump in with her, saves me having to come back up for a shower later. My bathroom only has a bath in it. The main bathroom and My Mum and Dad's ensuite has a shower, I normally use the main bathroom because showers are quicker and easier, especially in the morning.

I sit there and watch her, playing around with the water and the bubbles and all my troubles seem to go away. How can something so bad and so traumatic have made someone so amazing. I couldnt imagine life without her in it. Everytime I think about what happened, I always remember how horrible it was and how it changed my life forever. I guess on some levels it was a blessing though and it definitely changed my life forever, but for the better.

15 minutes later, we're both dressed and ready and sat at the kitchen counter as her food heats up. I'm reading another book from Dad's collection, this one is about Love and how it can over come everything. If only that was true, I think to myself. The oven dings then and I go to get Willow's food and my brew. With a 2 year old I've found it very important, having a coffee in the morning.

"Hey, Darling." I hear from the doorway. "How are 2 of my favourite girls?" Its Dad. I turn and smile to him, seeing him ruffling Willows hair which I spent a while braiding in 2 braids, which earns him a scowl. He laughs at me, "Kettle just done?" I nod and he begins making himself and Mother their morning brews.

I put Willow's food down infront of her and she begins eating almost instantly. Thats when I hear a knock at the door and move to get it. When I get there, I find Peeta. "What you doing here? Thought you where working this morning?" I ask.

He smiles when he see's me. "Dad gave me the morning off." I let him in. "Tea, no sugar, please." He winks, looking down at my coffee. I shake my head in disbelief but I cant help but smile, which makes him laugh.

He follows me through to the kitchen where Dad is already making him a brew, must have heard him coming in. He's been here that many times now that everyone knows his brew order. Peeta sits next to Willow, who smiles so wide. "How's my lovely Willow doing this morning?" Willow giggles. Peeta takes this opportunity to ruffle her hair up because he knows I hate it and Willow loves it. Great, now she looks like she's been dragged through a bush. I still find myself wondering about what it would be like if Peeta was her dad. "Katniss? You okay?" He asks me, pulling me out of the visions of them two playing in the meadow with another kid on the way.

I find myself blushing which makes him laugh. "Yep, I've just got to go upstairs for something." And I get out of there as soon as possible as the thoughts of him naked come into my head. How does he do this to me? I cant control my feeling or thoughts around him. Is this what Love is? I'll have to make a mental note to ask My Mother or Father. Obviously not mentioning the naked thing.

20Minutes later, we're ready to go to school. We're setting off early today so we can get there before everyone else so that we dont have to deal with everyone talking about the rumour thats going round. We take Willow with us to drop with Poppy as everyone else is busy today and its Poppy's day off. I have to peel her off Peeta though as she doesnt want to go. Peeta finds it hilarious though which just eggs Willow on more and makes me angry.

As we set off for school, I link my arm with Peeta's as we always do now. I think we're both finally over the awkwardness. That is until I open my mouth. "Peeta?" He looks at me. "I've been thinking about it since last night when you told me but why dont we just go along with the rumour?" He stops where he is walking and thats when I know I've said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry it was just a thought." I pull my arm away from his but her grabs me before I can walk away.

I cant read his face, He just looks confused."Are you saying, tell everyone that I'm Willows dad?" I nod, not wanting to say anything more. Then he smiles. "Katniss I love that girl to bits and I would love to be her pretend Father." I find myself smiling. "What do we say?"

We carry on walking again. "Nothing, they dont need to know the details. I just dont think I could stand it if people actually found out the truth." He mumbles in agreement and we walk to school talking about Willow. I dont think that he stops smiling the whole time. I cant stop thinking about My Family though. If we want people to believe it properly then I'm gonna have to tell them about the plan and I'm not sure about how Dad's gonna take it to be honest.

The day goes by slowly. We stick together for most of it. Peeta starts by telling his friends that Willow is his but he only found out about 5 months ago and has wanted to keep it a secret. Delly spend a lot of the day apologising to him about talking to Lavender. Neither of us blame her though, she's already said that she thought Lavender was her friend. Guess she was wrong and besides its done now, you cant change the past.

After Peeta tells his friends who are very shocked to say the least, word spreads pretty fast as some of his friends cant keep their mouths shut. We where counting on it though. By Lunch time the whole school knows. Some people take it worse than others though. When Gym comes along, We are just running laps around the small school yard and when I'm on my 8th Lap, Someone comes up behind me, pushing me over. My foot catches on something and twists the wrong way. When I pull myself up, I realise its sprained. Great. Peeta comes over to me and offers me help but I turn it down, I'll just sit on the edge of the yard until the class is done. I find myself watching Peeta run around.

After its finished, Madge helps me to the nurses office as Peeta has to leave to go back to the Bakery. His Dad called the school with an emergency and said that Rye and Peeta had to leave. He felt bad at first, leaving me alone when the whole school is talking about us but I've had worse so I'll be fine.

The nurse confirms that I have a sprained ankle and Madge helps me to the final class of the day. Once sat down, she speaks. "I found out who started the rumour and who tripped you in class. " I look at her and wait. "Gina did both." That didnt surprise me at all. Her brother apparently came up with the idea of the rumour and it spread from there about a week ago. Peeta has been having to deal with it. Ishe actually Willow's father? Because Kol told me something else." I already expected that Kol would have told her what happened when she met Willow which wasnt until after she started dating him actually.

I laugh slightly. "What Kol said is true. I suppose I wish that Peeta was the Father. She could be, have you seen her eyes?" We both smile at the thought. "Its just better than the alternative."

"I understand. Dont worry if anyone asks I'll say its true." She smiles again and I smile back. She's alwayshad my back has Madge, even before she started Dating Kol.

By the time we finally get to go home, my leg is feeling a little better and I'm able to walk by myself to get home. I'm glad about it, as too many people have been helping me around recently. However by the time we make it to the yard, its empty, everyone has gone home. Prim told me earlier that she is going straight to the Apothecary to help Mum so she wasnt going to walk with me but with her friend who lives in town. Madge is walking with me though as she is going to meet Kol.

We're just getting to the gates of the school when someone grabs Madge from behind. I dont have much time to question whats going on when someone grabs me from behind. Something hits me hard in the side of the head and I black out.

1 WEEK LATER...

(PEETA'S POV)

It's been a week now. Since katniss went missing. vanished without a trace. A week ago, Madge showed up unconscious on Kol's doorstep, causing havoc as the first thing she said before passng back out was 'they took Katniss'. she's still recovering from a severe concussion and hasnt woke up since that day.The mayor has abondoned his duties to look after his daughter but also has nearly all the District on red alert to find Katniss. I, however spend most nights awake, parolling the District in hopes that she will show up somewhere. Poor little Willow has no idea whats going on and doesnt know where her Mother has gone. I try to make her feel better but she just wants Katniss. I guess that makes 2 of us.

Dad has been shutting the Bakery earlier than normal now, so that everyone can join me in looking around for Katniss. I've asked everyone I know but the last time anyone seems to have seen her was when she twisted her ankle in Gym at school. Which is also the last time I saw her. I cant help the fear that is now living in my body. What if she is dead? What if I never see her again? She wouldnt chose to leave everyone so something must have happened to her.

I spend pretty much all my time at The Everdeens waiting for Madge to wake up. I'm hoping she can tell us a little more about what happened to Katniss. Mrs Everdeen says that its a chance that she might wake and have lost atleast a little bit of her memory because of where she was hit. I'm hoping thats not the case. Any information that she can remember could help. Let's just hope she can remember something atleast. I just want to know where she is.

I keep thinking that there is no way that she could have gone very far, especially with how she twisted her ankle in school. If she's gone anywhere then it is either very close to the school or she was taken but someone but I seem to have checked every single bit of the school grounds and everything nearby. Even all the backstreets in town. Every single inch of this district, I've checked and haven't found her yet. I seem to have talked to hundreds of people. I also got Gale and Mr Everdeen to check ever inch of the woods. I know how much she loves the woods and I know that if she was going to go anywhere then its the woods. She once told me of a small little building out inthe woods that she says is her favourite place in the world. I wanted more than anything to be the one that went out into the woods and brought her back completely find but I couldnt bring myself to go into the woods so I made Gale and Ash promise to check every single inch of everywhere she could be out there.

We've just got back from a morning walk to check for her when Madge wakes up. Its like she senses us coming in because we have barely made it into the kitchen when the Mayor starts shouting saying Madge is awake. My legs move before I tell them too. Evelyn gets Primrose to go and get Kol as he finally went home to shower and sleep.In the living room Madge is sat up. I take her hand in mine and almost shout at her. "Madge what happened? Where is Katniss?" The Mayor tries to push me away but Madge looks at me with fear in her eyes.

"Katniss..." She mumbles as if trying to figure something out. Then suddenly her head springs up, "Katniss! They took Katniss." She reaches out for me and I walk towards her, taking her hand in mine. "You have to find her! They could kill her."

"Who took her? Tell me?"

"Miles and Hillton Stratser." With that she sways slightly. Too much excitement. It happened with Katniss after the Bakery fire. I help her back into a lying down position and Kol flies through the door, nudging me aside.

She tells him she's fine and then he turns to me."Kol, she knows who took Katniss. I need your help." He nods. "Miles and Hillton." His face turns angry and he nods again, following me out the door, The Mayor behind us.

Its a very quick walk to the Town Square. Quickest its ever taken. I catch eyes with a very worried looking Leaven and force open the door to The Cobblers. Mrs Stratser stands behind the counter looking startled. "Ma'am, we need to speak to Miles and Hillton." The Mayor says from behind me before I can even get any words out.

The woman behind the counter smiles and nods, a look of fear in her eyes. Maybe she has nothing to do with it, maybe she does. I guess we will find out eventually. Mayor Undersee doesnt really wait to be told where they are or even for her to get them, he just barges through the door towards the back of the shop, set out a lot like the way The Bakery used to be. The only difference of course is the number of machines that line the walls that I've never seen before in my life. When Gina was my girlfriend, we normally just spent all of our time at my house, I didnt really like her brothers and so didnt want to go round to her house. "Miles, Hillton. Come downstairs please?" Their Mother shouts and seconds later they both come downstairs, angry that their Mother moved them from whatever they where doing.

The Mayor steps forwards, infront of them now. "Miles and Hillton Stratser, we have reason to believe that you attacked My Daughter, Madge Undersee and Took Katniss Everdeen and ae hiding her somewhere, Maybe in this very house." Their Mother starts to protest but The Mayor carries on. "Where were you both on January 31st at approximately 4pm?"

"They where both here." They're Mother says.

"I want them to tell me." The Mayor shouts. Both the Stratser boys nod with smiles on their faces. "On My Orders, I give Peeta Mellark and Kol Everdeen permission to search every part of the premises." He mumbles.

With that Me and Kol are off, looking in every room, every cupboard, searching every inch of the basement. We search every single bit of The Cobblers and there is no sign of Katniss anywhere. If they are hiding her somewhere its not in this building. "She's not here." I mumble to The Mayor. "But I know they have her somewhere."

The Mayor looks at them angrily. "We will be back." We all walk out the Back Door.

We find ourselves on the alleyway behind the shops. The one that has The Bakery right at the end of it. I was hoping that we would find Katniss today as today is my 16th Birthday and I wanted nothing more than to spend today with her. Even if it was just going for a walk or working in The Bakery, I wanted her to be with me.

My foot catches on something as we walk and I look down to see a little piece of Paper. I pick it up to see what it is, walking it to The mayor and Kol. 'This is the place where I took Katniss Everdeen's innocence, it seemed only fitting that this was the place I killed her." I feel my heart break and Kol lets out a sob. On the floor I see bits of clothes. I recognise the dark green colour of the shirt she was wearing the day she dissapeared. I look back at the note and find something else on the other side. 'Now for the girl she loves so dearly.'

"Willow!" Kol Shouts and we all set off running for the Victors Village.

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**Hope you liked this chapter. please leave a review and let me know what you think? **


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